forgiving_others

FORGIVING OTHERS : The Fruit of God's Love

"For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." Matt 6:14-15

As children to our heavenly Father, we are to do exactly what He wants out of us; and forgiving others when they have done us wrong is a REQUIREMENT, not an option. The ability to forgive others without retailiation is an infallable sign that one has come to abide in Christ.

In order to fully understand and exercise forgiveness, we really need to dwell in the love of God.
Let us take a look at how much God has loved us: "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

That's how much God has loved us by sacrificing His one and only Son for our sins! Why must God do this? Because of His deep love for us and it also goes to show that He is just! He could not simply lay aside the punishment we deserved. So the solution is to send Jesus as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. God's justice required a sacrifice and God's mercy provided it. The justice of God demands a verdict for our sins.

Now, let's also take a look at Jesus' love for us:

He came. He saw. He loves and died for us.

He came - As the Son of God, He came into this world to reveal the Truth to us.
He saw - He saw the filth (our sinful nature) of this world.
He loves and died - Although He did not like what he'd seen yet He still loves us & willingly died for our sins so that we could be reconciled with our heavenly Father.

"He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification." Rom 4:25

That is how much Jesus is loving us!

What is God's love like?

Read up on Rom 12: 9-21 & 1 Cor 13:4-7 to understand it.

How do I express forgiveness through God's love in my life?

Do it the Jesus' way - with love.

Although He was being crucified, yet He asked that those who have Him crucified be forgiven. "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing." Luke 23:34

Look how great is His love and forgiveness for all of us!

Another illustration where forgiveness in godly love is mentioned in the Bible was when Stephen was being stoned to death, he asked God to forgive those people. (Acts 7:60) He followed Jesus' way.

So, the next time when you are unsure as to whether to forgive, look to the Cross. Look at Jesus. Look into how magnanimous His grace was then. Do likewise - The Jesus' way. For afterall, we are to live like He did. Jesus is our example.

From both the illustrations above, we will come to realise that both Jesus and Stephen did not allow their feelings - of hurt, pain or resentment - to rule over them but instead went straight into the act of forgiving.

How is this possible???

There are 2 parts to forgiveness :

(1) The Human Part (our part)
(2) The Divine Part (God's part)

The human part is the crisis of the will . "Am I willing? Do I will to forgive that someone?" That is our decision. Although forgiveness is a requirement in God's eyes, it is still our free will to decide.

"Am I willing to follow God's will or do I choose mine?"

That is the question we will have to ask ourselves. If we choose not to forgive, then forgiveness will never take place. We will have to understand that if we do not do our part, God will not do it for us.

We are responsible for submitting our will to God, regardless of how we feel. (Like Jesus & Stephen) We are not to go by our feelings. (Remember Jesus & Stephen again) God will change our feelings after we have made our decision to forgive. As we step into obedience, God will change us. If we refuse to forgive, that means we are reserving the right to get even; therefore, we are cutting off God's forgiveness. We should understand that what God wants from us is a submissive will.

Our personality or soul is made up of :

MIND : Our Thoughts
EMOTIONS : Our Feelings
WILL : Our decisions / actions

Our emotions are seldom correct. Nevertheless, our tendency is to process everything through this method.

FIRST : Something negative or hurtful comes to mind;
SECOND : We react by feeling anger or hatred or resentment;
THIRD : We make a decision to act based upon our negative feelings.

Many acts of people are based upon their feelings. But we do not have to follow this process. The crisis of the will is to make the proper decision, regardless of how we feel. Eg : Some mornings, we feel like staying in bed, but we make the decision to get up by ignoring how we feel. After we got up, have a cup of tea, our feelings change. Likewise, to accomplish this, we have to decide to go against (ignore) how we feel.

That is what we are facing where forgiveness is concerned. We have to short-circuit our emotions and put it aside. We must understand that the Word of God says that we are to forgive. Even though we are hurt or angry, nowhere in the Bible does it say we are to forgive only if we feel like forgiving. Forgiveness has nothing to do with our emotions - it is an act of our will. God simply wants us to submit our will to His will. He wants you to forgive regardless how you feel. This means we do not have to understand (the why & the how come)in order to forgive.

Our attitude should be : "Lord, I don't feel like forgiving, but I submit my will to You. I am willing to forgive." That is the human part, that is the crisis of our will. When we take the attitude that we will no longer move on the basis of how we feel, that is our decision to obey God's Word. Our emotions will then begin to harmonise with our decisions. God will take over and change our feelings. We do not have to labour to change our feelings. Our responsibility is to submit our will to the Will of God. God will then change our feelings.

Honesty is vital in the forgiveness process. We must be honest in looking at the wrongs done to us, our reactions to them, and our inability to forgive without God's help. Once we have done this, we are then able to see the need we have to forgive those who have hurt us, whether it was intentional or not.

It is at this point that we find ourself at a cross-road. If we die to our feelings, sumbit our will to God and allow Him to work the forgiveness in our life. We will then be on our way to a deeper, growing relationship with Him and those around us. If we do not, we will find ourself even more bitter, angry, and chained to the past and to those who have wronged us.

Forgiveness must come from the heart. (Matt 18:35) and regardless of the number of times that a person may have wronged, hurt or angered us. We are to forgive them always. (Matt 18:21-22) We must never retaliate. For if we do, then we sin. Let God be the one to avenge, not us.(Rom 12:19)

Always remember this : That when we did someone wrong, we always hope that he/she would forgive us. So, do likewise.

"Do unto others what you expect others to do unto you." Matt 7:12

Let us not just see the speck of sawdust in others' eye and forget about the plank that we are having. (Matt 7:3)

Therefore, whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. (Phil 1:27)

In whatever we do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God through Him.

Finally, I pray that out of His glorious riches, He may strength you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your heart through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have the power to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the LOVE OF CHRIST and to know this love that surpass knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Eph 3:16-19)

Amen

"Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ has forgiven you." - Ephesians 4:32

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