Un-forgiveness

This is a subject that is heard about at different times and is very well known but how many times has it been ignored?  It needs to be taught and talked about often. It is so important that it may cost you your place in heaven someday.

As we walk through life, we come in contact with many people, unless you are a hermit rejecting everyone else because you are already in bondage to un-forgiveness.  Interacting with people is inevitable and you and I will be hurt by someone sooner or later.  Over a period of time you will be hurt many times. That is called life with imperfect people, with sin natures. Whether you are a Christian or not it will happen many times, in your lifetime here on earth. The question is, will you hold onto your offenses or will you humble yourself and forgive?

And don’t forget the other side of the coin, you will offend many people in your lifetime also and you will want to be forgiven.  Remember the Lord’s Prayer that He taught His disciples?  In it, He says, “forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” (Matthew 6:12)  So if we want to be forgiven we have to forgive.

But Jesus took it a step further He said, “to forgive from the heart.” (Matthew 18:35)  So this is not talking about lip service, this is talking about genuine forgiveness.  It has to be a heartfelt forgiveness.  When it is only lip service, it means nothing.  

I believe this is one of the biggest problems in the church and out of the church, lip service.  How many times do we say we will do this or that but we never do what we say?  Even Jesus said, “they honor me with their lips but their heart is far from me?” (Matthew 15:8) 

I am not saying it is easy to forgive offences and I don’t take this lightly. Some people have been scarred beyond what I can imagine and some forgiveness will never take place without the Lord intervening.  It seems like some things will never be forgiven, short of a miracle.  But we serve a God that is in the miracle business and it is His will that we forgive and He will help us to forgive any situation and turn what satan used to be a curse into a blessing if we let Him.  

Jesus said the kingdom of heaven could be compared to the story in Matthew 18:22-35 where there was a king that decided to square accounts with those who owed him money.  In the process one of his servants was brought in who owed him millions of dollars.  There was no way he could pay the debt so the decision was made to sell him and his family and everything he owned to pay the debt.  The man fell on his knees and begged for patience so he could pay the debt.  Then the King felt pity for the man and forgave him his debt.  You would have thought this man would have been overjoyed but he wasn’t, he went out and found a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars and grabbed him by the throat and demanded full payment.  When the man couldn’t pay and asked for more time and patience, the man had him arrested and thrown into prison until the debt was paid in full.  

That is not the end of the story, the next part is very important for all of us.  Some of the other servants told the King what had happened and he wasn’t a happy camper, to say the least.  He had the servant brought in and called him an evil servant and reminded him of what he had done for him.  Then he said, “shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had mercy on you?”  The angry King sent that servant to prison until his debt was paid.

Then in verse 35 it says this, “That’s what my Heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters in your heart.”  This is another hard lesson but a very important one that we need to take very seriously!  

If that isn’t enough to convince you that you need to forgive, then think of this, Jesus forgave you a debt that you could never have paid, and the verdict was in, and you were found guilty.  You were His enemy and He had mercy on you and stretched out his arms for you and suffered excruciating pain to buy your pardon, praise His precious name.  He was willing to shed His blood on your behalf and give His life for you to be forgiven, cleansed and purified.  What He did could have never been done any other way!  He loved us so much He was willing to forgive all our debts!  So what about you, will you forgive and do it from the heart?  The choice is yours.  My prayer is that you will make the right one.

God bless you and yours, have a great day.  And don’t forget to thank and praise the Lord!