2 Cor 2:10-11- Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, 11 lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.
Matt 18:21-22 – Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven
This text teaches us the Importance of Forgiveness. Jesus stressed the importance of forgiveness by using a breath taking challenge. He instructed Peter to forgive up to four hundred ninety times. Forgiveness is important!
Why we ask? It is important that we learn to forgive. Forgiveness is a learned response. It is not something that is instinctive. It is something we have to learn and do because the opposite is true. Our sinful nature keeps us from seeking or giving forgiveness.
However, the greatest teacher who ever lived, Jesus Christ, wants to teach us to forgive. He has many valuable lessons he wants to teach us. These lessons will help us spiritually, physically and emotionally. Jesus wants to give us the gift of eternal life. He also wants to give us victory in this life as well.
Besides saying that forgiveness is important, I want to mention two practical reasons why forgiveness is important!
First, forgiveness is important because God’s forgiveness of us is dependent on our forgiving others. Look at what the Bible has to say about this concept.
Mark 11:25-26 And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.’’
A second reason why forgiveness is important is because our spiritual freedom depends on our forgiving others. Whenever you harbor unforgiveness in your heart you will be in bondage. You will not have freedom when you try to worship.
Matt 5:22-23 “Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”
Unforgiveness hinders worship and Unforgiveness keeps you in bondage.
Illustration: Two little brothers, Harry and James, had finished supper and were playing until bedtime. Somehow, Harry hit James with a stick, and tears and bitter words followed. Charges and accusations were still being exchanged as their mother prepared them for bed.
She said, “Now boys, what would happen if either of you died tonight or you never had the opportunity to forgive one another?” James spoke up, “Well, OK, I’ll forgive him tonight, but if we’re both alive in the morning, he’d better look out.”
You see James went to bed and slept in bondage. He had unforgiveness in his heart as he slept. “Forgiveness doesn’t make the other person right, it makes you free.”
So what is Forgiveness?
Forgiveness is to give up all claims on an account of, and another is to cease to feeling resentment for the wrong. So, if you owe me a debt of any kind, if I am going to forgive that debt, that means I will no longer hold you accountable for that debt.
The slate is wiped clean and you owe me nothing. It doesn’t matter if you owed me a penny or if you owed me a million dollars. I have forgiven, therefore, I no longer lay claim to that penny or that million dollars.
Let’s say you hurt my feelings. Whether it was deliberate or unintentional, the results are still the same. My feelings were hurt and you did it. But I know the Lord has forgiven me much and He commands me to forgive. So, if I am going to truly forgive, I have to take responsibility for my own feelings of resentment and let them go.
I may not want to do so because you really did hurt me and I really don’t want you to get off the hook so easily. Every time the memory of what you did pops into my head, I replay it over and over and over again and I feel the pain and the resentment all over again.
I start thinking about what I should have said or what I should have done and how I will lash out the next time that memory comes back or how angry I get for the hurt you did me. But that is the opposite of forgiving.
That is holding on to resentment. I can’t honestly claim that I have forgiven you if I keep replaying it in my head every time that thought comes into my mind.
I may not be able to stop it from popping into my mind, but I sure don’t have keep dwelling on it. I really don’t need to be concerned with it. I should not be thinking of what I should have said or what I could have done, or better yet tell myself you owe me.
You see unforgiveness leads to resentment and resentment leads to bitterness. That bitterness is like a cancer that keeps eating away at the person who refuses to forgive. It’s like a poison that spreads throughout the body, but it doesn’t stop there.
Unforgiveness, it poisons relationships with your friends, it poisons relationships with love ones and it poisons relationships your family.
We, as Christians, should certainly learn to ask why not me instead of why me. We are followers of Christ. If we are His followers, then we should be following him into persecution and into being abused and wrongly accused without asking why me.
God has my back. He knows that I was hurt. If He determines that anything needs to be said or done then he will take care of it, because the bible says that revenge is His.
I am saying that this is how we should handle being wronged. Put it into the hands of the one and only mighty God and get peace with ourselves by resting in his arms.
We cannot live the Christian life. We cannot bring about a spiritual transformation in our lives. We cannot live up to God’s standards. We cannot fulfill the teachings of the New Testament.
The Christian life is a supernatural act whereby God empowers us to do what we could not do otherwise. So, what should we do if we find ourselves facing an impossible task.
Well we have discussed an important issue in the spiritual life. However, there is a deeper issue at stake. The issue is following Jesus Christ. Jesus loves you. Jesus created you. He knows what is best for you.
He knows, far better than social scientists, that forgiveness is healthy for you. He knows that unforgiveness will damage you emotionally. The important thing is that you trust Him, obey Him and follow Him
Let God take care of it, quit thinking about it and move on to a better life and start living for him and do so because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross because while he was on the cross he said this in Luke 23:34 – Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”
Jesus will take my pain away and will help me quit dwelling on the past and the hurt. I must live a new life and I must do as God commands me to do.
Forgive and leave it alone and let it go.