Forgiving One Another

In Ephesians chapter 4 verse 32 the bible says, “Be kind to one another, forgiving one another just as God has also forgiven you.”-

For those that have turned their life to God and trusted in the Son of God… God has forgiven you.

How has God forgiven you?

• ·         Totally
• ·         Completely
• ·         Unreservedly
• ·         Wholeheartedly
• ·         Irrevocably
• ·         Unreluctantly
• ·         Gladly
• ·         Sacrificially
•            Eternally
•  .         Lovingly

He has forgiven you of your sin which had offended Him. He has forgiven you of your sin which had separated you from Him. He has forgiven you of your sin that cost His Son His life.

Isaiah said in chapter 1 verse 18: “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are as scarlet they will be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool. Jesus has taken the deepest sin and though it’s like scarlet, He has washed it. In those days when they put dye into a material it would saturate so deep you could not wash it out. Our sin, even though stained so deep… He has washed it with His blood.

When you forgive others, what does it look like?

When you say: “I forgive,” forgiveness is a promise… it means “to release” or “to send away,” “to show/extend favor…kindness”

When you forgive, what you are saying is…

1.       I will not gossip about it

2.       Secondly, I will not hold it against you

3.       Thirdly, I will not bring it up again to manipulate, beat you over the head with it

4.       Fourthly, I will not let it come between us

 

Biblical Forgiveness will not gossip about sin

Biblical Forgiveness does not hold that sin against the individual

Biblical Forgiveness does not bring that sin up against in order to beat up, humiliate, or manipulate the individual

Biblical Forgiveness will not let it become between them and that individual

To forgive is a command. It is to pardon, release, send away… Is it hard? There are times it is terribly so. Is it possible? Yes, because He commands and when we choose to obey there is power to do so, It takes an incredible amount of energy to carry bitterness and poisons the individual that does so and spreads to others as the bitter person infects others. It is hard because we have feelings of hurt. It does not mean we have not been sinned against, nor that we have not deeply hurt and offended someone else. We all have sinned. We all are responsible for our sin. God erased it as the word “canceled” means in Colossians 2:12-13. Forgiveness is a choice of love…. Love for God … expressed in choosing to release, when at times we want the other person to pay some price, to hurt as they have hurt us, vengeance extracted is often our bitter  at times even unspoken cry. Sin hurts. We have offended God. He the offended One sought us out to reconcile us. We sin and offend others. We are sinned against by others.

The bible says, “Just as God has forgiven you, so forgive one another.” Is there anyone today you are not forgiving? God desires you to forgive… to release… to send away.

Forgive, not because you “feel” like it but because He commands you…this is not Him being “harsh,” but loving. Un-forgiveness seeks to wound the other person even just a “little.” It does not mean we do not lovingly speak to the one who has offended us but always with the intent the Scripture teaches us it  is that we might seek reconciliation in the life of the believers. We might help one another lovingly walk with Him and humbly walk with one another.

It does not mean if we “remember” someone has sinned against us that means we have not forgiven them. No, the evil foe can remind us seeking to tempt us to bear a grudge hold a record of wrongs. Love does not do this- 1 Cor 13:4-7. What it does mean, if it does come to my mind I choose to remind myself that I have released them and I choose to maintain that attitude before Him. The feelings of hurt will not take me captive where I yield to them and choose to be bitter.

You and I can forgive because we have the capacity.

It’s a choice to express gratitude and love to Him who has forgiven us through the blood of His Son.

 

He has forgiven us…

·         Totally

·         Completely

·         Unreservedly

·         Wholeheartedly

·         Irrevocably

·         Unreluctantly

·         Gladly

·         Sacrificially

·         Eternally

Today, God has forgiven you in Christ and He commands you and me to forgive  one another. He knows we sin against one another. He has made it possible by giving us the power to forgive,” God has given us everything pertaining to life and Godliness… God is at work in you both to Desire and the ability {POWER} to do what is pleasing to Him” {2 Peter 1:3; Phil 2:12-13}. It is not a lack of power but a lack of love for God when we choose to withhold forgiveness. It is a failure to understand our own sinfulness. It is a failure to realize and think on something what it cost God, the Offended One to reach out to the ones who have offended Him. He spent His Son’s life to  forgive us. The Cross speaks about the choice that God made to make forgiveness possible , indeed a reality for you, for me, for us.  The Motivation for you and me  to forgive when we offend others? Is “…Just as God in Christ has forgiven you.”

The Lord Jesus said, “As you have done to the least of these My brothers You have done unto Me.”  FORGIVE…  for Jesus sake!