Forgiveness
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Forgiveness
By Braxton King
Jesus related a story in the gospel of Matthew about a man who had been forgiven a great amount of money, but refused to forgive someone who owed him a relatively small amount of money. The debt of the man was so great that he would have no way of paying it, so he begged for mercy and patience. His masters’ heart was moved with compassion, so he released and forgave him by canceling the debt.
What a wonderful experience of mercy and grace he received that day. He had been forgiven for so much and was shown such great kindness, but instead of learning from this great show of compassion and grace, he went out and found someone who owed him a very small amount of money and choked him, saying, “Pay what you owe!”
It is assumed and expected that someone who has been forgiven will, in turn, be a forgiver. The Bible says, “Freely we have received, freely we are to give.”
The Bible says in the book of Ephesians, “Be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”
The motivation we have to be forgivers is that we have been forgiven. Jesus instructed us that, “Those who have been forgiven much love much.” When it was discovered that this man was unwilling to forgive, judgment was exacted upon his life and he was turned over to the tormentors.
Unforgiveness is corrosive in nature and will hinder us in walking in the freedom that God has for us in Christ. Corrie Ten Boom said, “Forgiveness is setting the prisoner free, only to find out that the prisoner was me.”
In the Old Testament, the Bible is clear that God puts our sins behind his back. In forgiving others of the wrongs that they have done to us, we are in effect putting the power of their actions behind our back.
Forgiveness does not mean that you forget and/or condone the wrong that was done to you. It does not mean that you continue putting yourself in a situation where someone can constantly wrong you.
You trust God to forgive the wrong done you and it will no longer have an affect or power over your life. The person you forgive may never acknowledge that they have done anything wrong to you, but it will set you free, and your life will be better for it.
It will root things out of our lives like vengeance, hate, and bitterness, and by forgiving, we replace these things with love, hope, peace, joy, acceptance, and grace.
Let’s forgive, for Christ sake.
Reprinted courtesy of McCreary Journal.