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There are many seemingly simple statements but
the meaning and
ramification of these statements are truly
incredible.
Many of us are labouring hard at our Christian walk,
but deep down we feel
that we are stagnating and that we are not making
the progress that
we should be making, yet we pray, study and even
fast from time to time.
There is a very real problem in how we deal with
certain situations.
We can think that we are acting in a charitable
manner and indeed
It is understandable why we feel this way.
Here are some examples.
These are meant to be illustrative and not
definitive.
A. Your husband or wife has left
you. Obvious
B. Someone has stolen from your
house. Obvious
C. Someone has told horrible lies
about you. Hidden, Unknown.
D. Or tried to manipulate and
literally destroy you. Hidden, Unknown.
In all of these
situations we can look at these with a view of
reserved acceptance of the situation with grace,
and you grin and bear it. You do not bear any
anger or hostility
to the person who has thrown the injustice at
you.
In the case of the person associated in the case
of a marriage break up
you may unwittingly forgive the partner but not the other party
concerned. Any contact that you have with the
person is kind and pleasant.
You are showing 'love' to the person.
This is all very well. But it is not enough.
Herein lies the problem.
There is nothing that you have done wrong,
however, the fact is that all
the persons who have wronged us have grievously
offended us.
It is true that all sin is against God but we
have also been sinned against.
If we fail to love we remain a victim
and not a victor.
We therefore have to forgive the person otherwise
they will remain in
their sin. We are bound to the person by their
sin, the fact that we accept
with grace and dignity the situation, does not
matter. The sin still exists.
It therefore follows that we have to forgive the
person.
It is easy for ministers to keep admonishing
their congregations to do these
things when in fact, if they are honest, they
have to admit that they
themselves are just as unable to practice what
they are preaching.
True forgiveness, like love is from
God.
Like our whole Christian calling, it
is all above and beyond our human ability.
The following verses are the key to all our
problems.
In order to forgive you have to have
genuine love.
We need to realise that we are made in the image
of God
therefore what we have is only an image of the
real thing.
1 John 4:8 He that
loves not knows not God; for God is love.
When you see all the violence, bitterness, hate
and anger between people
of for example different religious beliefs, races
etc, you can be certain that
in spite of claims to be Christian, Christ is not
involved in anyway.
We are told that God is love,
and therefore He is the source of all love.
It cannot be obtained anywhere else in the
universe. Never mind what the
ministers or counsellors tell you. You cannot
work it up or any such thing.
1 John 4:16 And we
have known and believed the love that God has to us.
God is
love;
and he that dwells in love dwells in God, and
God in him.
This verse clearly links love to our
dwelling in God and God dwelling in us.
The most that we can do is give the appearance of
forgiveness and love,
however forgiveness and love is not optional, they are direct
commands.
This puts a great deal of force into the ‘Lord’s
prayer’
Weymouth Translation Matthew 6:12 and forgive us our shortcomings,
as we also have forgiven those who have failed in
their duty towards us;
It is important to notice that we are asking to
be forgiven, present
tense
in view of something that we have already done
'as we also have forgiven'
past tense.
14 For if you forgive others their
offences,
your Heavenly Father will forgive you also;
15 but if you do not forgive others
their offences,
neither will your Father forgive yours.
If you do not forgive you will not be forgiven it
is that simple.
Forgiveness annuls offence.
We can see that we are bound to the person (See Document Loose & Free)
by the sin that they have committed against us.
Our error is in not forgiving them, but often we
will not even know that
they have sinned against us.
We can see that grace and dignity and
treating someone nicely is not enough.
John 20:20 And when
he had said this, he showed unto them his hands
and his side. The disciples therefore were glad,
when they saw the Lord.
21 Jesus therefore said to them
again, Peace be unto you:
as the Father hath sent me, even so send I you.
22 And when he had said this, he
breathed on them,
and said unto them, Receive you the Holy Spirit:
23 whose soever sins you forgive,
they are forgiven unto them;
whose soever sins you retain, they are retained.
The following verse shows that if we do not have
mercy we can expect
to pay the full price for our debts.
Matthew 18:32 Then his
lord called him unto him, and said to him,
You wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt,
because you besought me:
33 should not you also have had
mercy on thy fellow-servant,
even as I had mercy on you?
34 And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors,
till he should pay all that was due.
35 So shall also my heavenly Father do
unto you,
if you forgive not every one his brother from
your hearts.
It is no wonder naked and in unbelievable
suffering Christ on the cross
said Father forgive them for they know not what
they do.
They were hurting themselves plus the other party
concerned.
This shows clearly that forgiveness is required
in the most extreme
circumstances and not the trivia with which we
often take offence.
Luke 23:34 And Jesus said, Father,
forgive them; for they know
not what they do.
and parting his garments
among them, they cast lots.
In case you might think that
only Christ could do this, you would be right.
That is the key. Here is another
example
Acts 7:55 But he
was full of the Holy Spirit, and
looking up to heaven,
he saw the glory of God and
Jesus at the right hand of God.
The Holy Spirit is none other
than Jesus Christ and the Father.
Acts 7:59 And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God,
and saying,
Lord Jesus, receive my
spirit.
60 And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud
voice, Lord,
lay not this sin to their
charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
We need to consider that we may not have forgiven
others because we
did not accept that what they did to us was sin
and both them and us
are consequently suffering.
Or we may not even know that these persons have
sinned against us,
thus we have to ask God to make these people
known to us.
There is really only one way of life that can
prevent this,
anything else is quite disastrous.
We have to obey the commandment ‘To love one another’.
As was said earlier this is beyond our ability,
so we are left with
just how do we do that ?
1) Acknowledge
to our Father in heaven that we are unable to forgive,
or
love or whatever we are required to do.
2) Ask
our Father in heaven to be the forgiveness, love for the wrong
done to us. Christ and the Father are one, and
our Christ is
all-inclusive and will meet every need.
This
principle applies to our whole Christian life.
This understanding is chain breaking, freedom
giving and will release
life
into our very being. Let the indwelling Christ live out the life
which
is the very purpose of His indwelling in us.
Galatians 2:20 I am
crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live;
yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the
flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who
loved me, and gave
himself for me.
When you start to do this your life will never be
the same again as
you experience the renewing of the mind by the
Holy Spirit,
Romans 12:2 And be
not conformed to this world: but be you
transformed by the renewing of your mind, that
you may prove what
is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will
of God.
and the transformation from dust to become a
precious stone in
the Temple of God, the New Jerusalem, that is our
ultimate
destination which will only be attained by
forgiveness and love.
Revelation
22:9 And there came unto me one of the seven
angels
which had
the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked
with me,
saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride,
the
Lamb’s wife.
10 And
he carried me away in the spirit to a great and
high
mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem,
descending
out of heaven from God,
The only way out
of this dilemma is Jesus Christ.
He is the only way of escape.
Praise the Lord.
Come
soon Lord Jesus.
Amen.
(Bible Explanations,
Messages of Life, Hope
& Encouragement)