Forgiveness. Something most of us know we have to receive and to give, but something that seems impossible at times. Christ put such an importance on forgiveness. Once when a paralytic was lowered through the roof of Christ’s home (Mark 2:1-12), the first words out of Christ’s mouth were, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” As those in the house began reasoning within themselves that Christ had no right to forgive sins because “…who can forgive sins but God alone,” Christ healed the paralytic “…so that you may know that the Son of Man hath authority on earth to forgive sins.” At this point, Christ introduced a totally new concept into the Hebrew tradition–that human beings had the authority to forgive sins. (If you check a concordance for the words with “forgive” as their stem, all Old Testament references equate forgiveness with God’s actions, not man’s.) Later on in Mark 11:22-26, Christ went a step further when he connected human forgiving human to the ability to have prayers answered; listen to verses 25 and 26:
 Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is heaven will also forgive you for your transgressions. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is heaven forgive your transgressions.Â
Or, in other words, what God does for us depends on what we do. If we do not forgive, then God will not forgive us and we should not expect answers to our prayers. Now, a question that could pop up is, “Well, didn’t Christ take care of that for us on the cross?” Yes, this is a paradox–Christ died for our forgiveness and took care of sin once and for all, but God may not forgive what we do. Let’s see if we can put it in different terms–God cannot help us take advantage of what Christ accomplished on the cross if we refuse to forgive. If this happens, then we will live as if we were not the sons of God.
    One of the qualities of love listed in I Corinthians 13:4-7 is “Love…does not take into account a wrong suffered.” If we are to love our neighbors as ourselves then we cannot keep track of how anyone has sinned. Forgiveness is intertwined with love to the point where we cannot separate them–if we love, we forgive and if we forgive, we love. In fact, to take this line of thought a step further, Christ linked forgiving others as an integral component of becoming a son of God. Listen his words in John 20:23 as he breathed on his disciples as an outward sign of the new birth, “…If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.” The power of forgiveness lies in our hands.
    Right now, let’s reflect a little bit–what was your reaction to my last statement? Was it, “Oh, dear, I guess I’ll have to forgive people…” or was it, “Yeah, I get to forgive as many people as I can…” In my own experience, it took a number of years before I moved from the first reaction to the second, but once I understood the power of forgiveness, I decided I wanted in on the action. What really set me free was a situation that I faced over twenty years ago. The church my family was attending was tossed into some sudden turbulence and emotions were intense. I made a statement to someone which was misinterpreted and which resulted in a phone call where I was roundly scolded. I thought the whole circumstance was out of order and totally unfair, and even though I knew I needed to forgive the caller, I couldn’t. My husband told me just to forgive, but that was much easier said than done. I was upfront and honest with God and I avoided taking communion during that time in order to avoid being a hypocrite. I was in my prayer closet with the Lord for six months tussling with my inability to forgive, and over those months, God gave me the knowledge, understanding, and wisdom I needed to forgive. The time came when I could hug the caller, assure this person of my love, and mean it from my heart. This episode began to open my eyes to some concepts about forgiveness that God has built in my life over the years.
    First, forgiveness is a choice. Once I realized that, I was able to separate what I felt from what I chose. Quite frankly, there have been times that, had I based my actions on what I felt, forgiveness would not have found a place in my life and I would not have benefitted from God’s knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. At those times, I just chose to forgive because that was what the Bible tells us to do. If I wanted to please God, then I would have to forgive, period! Believe it or not, putting my decision in those terms gave me the extra push I needed to do the right thing. The longer I kept at it, the easier it became.
    Next, the outworking of forgiveness can be a process. Most of us have times where we forgive, then before we know it, the ill-feelings return. I’ve learned over the years that ill-feelings do not equal unforgiveness. If I struggle with my feelings, then I climb up into God’s lap, snuggle close to Him, and start talking with Him. He is the One who knows how to deal with those ill-feelings and He certainly doesn’t mind me asking Him for help.
    Also, forgiveness is unlimited. Christ set the example for us as he hung on the cross, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). The “them” in Christ’s statement could include everyone from Adam and Eve onward because the word is so open-ended. And, when Christ told the disciples that whosever sins they forgave would be forgiven, he didn’t limit them. Once I grabbed hold of that, I started asking God if I could forgive everyone because people who “sin” do it because they don’t understand God’s absolute love. There is so much deception in our world that many people don’t have any inkling of who God is and what He had done for us all. By forgiving everyone, I have an input into their lives and can legitimately ask God to break through the deceptions and to show everyone His absolute love and the power that love can have in our lives.
    Now, the questions may arise, “Won’t forgiving everyone backfire? What if someone really does you wrong? Then, what?” There’s this little verse in Proverbs that I stand on, “When a man’s ways are pleasing to the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him” (Proverbs 16:7). You see, when I choose to please God, then I have confidence that if anyone wishes to hurt me in any way, God will make him or her be at peace with me. Also, I go back to Romans 8:28 which says “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” I love God with everything I have and His purpose is that I love my neighbors (which, in my eyes, includes everyone in the world)–I am called to that purpose. God will work everything to my good (and I believe, to the good of everyone else), and He will help me replace any unforgiveness in my life with forgiveness and love.
    All scriptures are taken from the NASB. As always, feel free to comment–just keep it respectful.
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    ©2009-2010 by Patricia Zell. All rights reserved.
