| The Grapevine Number 89 October 3, 2004 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth. II Timothy 2:15 Forgiveness by Jack Northart The American Heritage Dictionary defines “forgiveness” as a noun as: “1) The act of forgiving, the state of being forgiven, as, the forgiveness of sin or of injuries. 2) Disposition to pardon; willingness to forgive.” As a verb as: 1) compassionate feelings that support a willingness to forgive. 2) the act of excusing a mistake or offense. By definition, forgiveness implies that something wrong has occurred. There was some sort of injury which happened to someone by another person. It could be a physical injury, an emotional injury, or a financial injury. Forgiveness, or the act of forgiving someone, states that the injured party has excused the mistake or offense. There has been a pardon to the wrong doer. As Christians, the first thing that should come to our minds on this subject of forgiveness, is what God has forgiven us for. We should recognize that we were dead in trespasses and sin, without God in this world. But God, by His grace and mercy, gave His only begotten Son Jesus Christ to pay the debt for sin and all the consequences of sin. Ephesians 1:7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. Colossians 1:14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Because of the fall of Adam, sin entered into the world and was passed on from one generation to the next. It wasn’t until Jesus Christ gave his life as the payment for sin that mankind could be redeemed from the clutches and penalty of sin. It was by the shed blood of Jesus Christ that the forgiveness of all sin was made possible. Those who confess Jesus as lord and believe that God raised him from the dead, receive this salvation and forgiveness of sin. This complete sacrifice exemplified God’s great love. John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. We didn’t deserve this kind of love and sacrifice, God did it for us anyway. And God’s example of love and His willingness to forgive is shown throughout His Word. Furthermore, He exhorts us to do the same as His children. I John 4:17 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. Ephesians 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. It is very easy to hold a grudge against someone that has done some wrong to us. Furthermore, these grudges can mount up in our hearts and minds to the point of consuming our thoughts and actions. We become so convinced that we are justified in our grudge that we invite others to get a similar grudge against the same person. The end result is hardheartedness on a massive scale. This is not a biblical activity nor a godly solution to dealing with the wrong that has been done. When you forgive someone, it doesn't mean their actions were right, you just forgive them for their transgression against you. When we allow bitterness and resentment to build in our minds because we fail to forgive, we are simply going in the wrong direction to properly take care of the problem. What is the correct action to take? Forgive them. Sometimes that is very difficult for us to do when we forget what God forgave us for. If we see how much God had to forgive us for, then it makes it much easier to forgive others. God’s action of love and forgiveness was completely out of proportion to what we did to deserve it. We didn’t deserve it. There may be times that a person has done something so terrible to us, that nothing that they could do in this world could ever be enough to make up for the mistake or wrong that they may have done to us. We may justify our hate and bitterness by misquoting verses from the Bible. The bottom line is that forgiveness is the correct course of action to take, since that God has forgiven us. Ephesians 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. There is no degree of sin mentioned in this verse; it just says “… be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another.” However, our minds want to classify the sins of others against us and use that as a measuring stick for whether or not we should forgive them. There is nothing in Ephesians 4:32 that states that that is how we should deal with forgiveness. It says to forgive, so that is what we do. This doesn’t mean that we excuse people from their respective responsibilities and doing their job correctly. We still must reprove and rebuke, so that their hearts can make a turn in the right direction. (II Timothy 4:2). However, when someone commits an offense against us which hurts us in one way or another, we must have the fortitude and love to forgive them. 1 John 4:20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? Sometime ago, an individual grievously wronged me, and I was really hurt and offended by what happened. Although the offense itself was quite serious and painful, what hurt me more was that my dear friend had done it. The feeling of betrayal was very intense. Emotional wounds, like physical wounds, take time to heal. The wider and deeper the wound, the longer it will take to heal. While the wound is healing, you must constantly guard against infection setting in. In fact, in some situations, infections are often more of a concern than the wound itself. This is because infections can spread quickly and ravage a healthy body. It is important to note that once an infection sets in, the healing process of the actual wound slows down or stops. The "infection" in emotional wounds is bitterness and anger. Without forgiving this person, I was suffering the gangrenous effects of harboring resentment and bitterness, and it’s infection was consuming my life. Then another Christian believer told me that I needed to forgive the person that offended me. I didn’t want to forgive him. But after a few days, it dawned on me that this is what I really needed to do. I cannot say that I felt immediate emotional relief from forgiving this person, but it wasn’t too long after that that the burden of bitterness that I had been carrying around with me for years was beginning to disappear. Within a few months, I began to see that I shouldn’t have waited so long to get to the point of forgiving in this situation. My days were much brighter and my outlook on life was so much better, and my fellowship with the Heavenly Father was getting sweeter every day. Being honest and recognizing the importance of forgiveness and acting on this, will change a person’s life for the better. It will mend the emotional wounds and get a person back on the track of living and loving life again, and of loving people again. So long as we hold anger and bitterness toward another, we will feel miserable and defeated. On the other hand, if we so love that we forgive someone that has wronged us, we will not only stop carrying the burden of that hurt around with us, but will be able to help encourage others that have the same challenge to forgive. I John 3:16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. Return to main page |