Forgiveness

30 Aug

Forgiveness

After watching the movie “Overcomer” I found the Holy Spirit prompting me to consider my own unforgiving heart. It began with the drunk driver who caused the collision last summer and left me with a great deal of pain that continues to plague me. It included the Christian friend who revealed unrelenting hypocrisy in her blast at a perceived offense on my part. And it included the parents of a student I had in class one year who unfairly and with hostility accused me of wrongdoing. Each one still produces in me a physical response in my gut when I think of them and bitterness has developed over time regarding all three.

There are times when we suffer because of the actions of others. God calls us to forgive and, promises that He will also forgive “for your sakes … in the person of Christ” (2 Cor. 2:10), based on our forgiving the offender. In addition He gives a warning if we do not forgive, “Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices” (2 Cor. 2:11).

Forgiveness is basically a decision to release bitterness, anger, and the desire to retaliate. As a result of forgiveness, the offense will always be a part of your life, but it will not control you. Any control the offender or the situation might have over your life is taken away when you make that intentional and daily choice.

Forgiveness is not necessarily going to make the offender feel better. But it does place us, as Christians, right back in the center of peace and in a right relationship with God. It is the acceptance of the consequences of another’s actions and the rejection of the power of the actions of the offender to negatively affect us any longer.

There are two aspects of forgiveness—how it affects us (2 Cor. 2:10–11) and how it affects others (2 Cor. 2:7)—that I will cover in this section. Jesus Himself is the pattern for our behavior when we have been wronged in some way by someone else.

Jesus healed people in order to demonstrate His power to forgive sin (Matt. 9:6). Before the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, forgiveness appears to be part of the appropriate actions He required of His disciples for two reasons.

As His witnesses they were to demonstrate His power and authority over sin.

As His witnesses they were, also, to demonstrate the coming new covenant in which forgiveness is the basis of God’s bounty through them. In contrast to the requirements of a sacrificial and priest–directed religious environment, ultimate and forever forgiveness through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ was shown through the disciple’s actions.

While on the cross, Jesus forgave those who were killing Him (Luke 6:37). After His victory over the condemnation of sin on the cross, forgiveness was given to those who believe in Him as Savior. One John 1:9 tells us that “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Matthew 6:12–15, the Lord’s Prayer, also gives the promise of forgiveness for our own sins when we forgive others. In Matthew 18:22 Jesus expressed the need for continued forgiveness, even when the offender continues to offend up to “seventy times seven” times. Verse 34 of the same chapter makes it clear that when we don’t forgive from our hearts, we are the ones left with unforgiven sin before God. Furthermore, lack of forgiveness hinders our prayers and communion with God. Psalm 66:18 says, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.”

Forgiveness benefits both the offender and the forgiver. In everyday life we often forgive people who are known to us, and the action begins to reestablish a prior relationship affected by someone’s choices and behavior. When there is no prior relationship, the offender may or may not benefit from the forgiveness. In such a case, the forgiver is the one who gains release by the act of forgiveness. Even under horrendous circumstances, like a debilitating injury from an automobile accident, we are called as Christians to forgive. God has given us no mitigating exemptions for the need to forgive.

Humanly speaking, besides being sin for the believer, lack of forgiveness creates an environment in which depression and anxiety flourish. Bitterness envelops every relationship until forgiveness is chosen. One’s life, health, and well-being are all negatively affected to the point of physical illness and antisocial behavior.

On the side of the forgiver, there is the element of redemption, a return of focus to God instead of bitterness toward the offender. While the consequences of the offense to themselves are not mitigated, the act of forgiveness halts ongoing injury from that event. The forgiver experiences closure. The forgiven rests assured that his or her action no longer causes new and repeated injury to the forgiver.

Forgiveness is a spiritual issue. The physical and emotional impact is not necessarily less, but the spiritual impact ceases so the forgiver can move on. Jesus gave us the example and the power of the Holy Spirit to enable us to forgive.