Forgiveness

Sometimes it's just so hard to accept someones forgiveness. We feel like we need to do something to prove that we should be forgiven! Do we think that we have something to prove? Like we need to show everyone we're worthy of God's forgiveness? When in reality, we can't prove that we're worthy of it, 'cause we're not! How do we get the mentality that we have to be good enough? We can never be good enough, we as humans, are inherently sinful! Nothing we can do is enough to make us worthy of God's forgiveness! That would be like saying God is obligated to forgive us! We need to realize that nothing we do will ever make us good enough for heaven. Only God can do that! We by ourselves will never be good enough, strong enough, smart enough, anything enough to make our way into heaven. The forgiveness that God offers to us is absolutely free. He doesn't want us to prove something to him or anyone else. God only wants us to look to his son, Jesus, with faith, and thanksgiving. He doesn't want us to work for it, the work has already been done!

Ephesians 2:8-9

“8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God:9not of works, lest any man should boast.”

If this was because of something we did, we would be prideful, and full of ourselves. Where is God in that? If forgiveness was given to us because we were good enough...it wouldn't be forgiveness! The definition of forgive: To pardon; to remit an offense or debt: to overlook an offense, and treat the offender as not guilty.

And forgiveness: The act of forgiving; the pardon of an offender, by which he is considered and treated as not guilty. (Noah Webster's 1828 dictionary).

Do either of these definitions say anything about you having to do something to gain forgiveness? No! They say that the offended (God) overlooks, treats us as if it had never happened! What about the part where it says “To remit an offense or debt”? That indicates (and rightfully so) that an offense was made (sin), and that we owe something to God. So, if we owe something to God, can't we just pay it off like any other debt?

Matthew 18:23-27

“23Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. 24And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. 25But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26The servant therefore fell down, and worshiped him, saying,. 'Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all'. 27Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.”

This king saw that his servant couldn't pay him off, and he ordered his servant to pay the price for that. The servant, his wife, children, and all his things, were to be sold off to help pay this enormous debt of 10,000 talents (back then that was millions and millions of dollars). It was an unpayable debt for the servant, he would never have been able to pay it off not matter what he did, and the king knew that. This servant got on his knees and begged for patience from the king. But the king gave him more then that, he gave him forgiveness. The king forgave this unpayable debt his servant owed him! Imagine it...that is like China just forgiving the U.S.'s debt to them of about 1.6 Trillion dollars! This king, forgave the debt, and saw his servant as debt free! That is what Christ has done for us. We have a unpayable debt to him because of our sin, something that we can never pay off it is so huge, but God in mercy payed the debt himself, and forgave us, all we have to do is accept it! That is right, God wont see a spot of sin on us if we just accept the fact that he has forgiven us!

Luke 11:4

“And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive everyone that is indebted to 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.”

Colossians 3:13

“Forbearing on another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.”

We are told to forgive others. Now, when we forgive someone, well, a lot of the time wesay that we've forgiven them, but in our hearts we really haven't. Maybe we treat them differently then we did before because of what we were supposed to forgive them for. Does that seem like the same kind of forgiveness that God has shown us? He treats us as if we had never done anything wrong! When we treat someone differently after we've “forgiven” them, then we haven't actually forgiven them. You're still holding on to some of your hurt. Now lots of people will tell you that you have every right to hold a grudge, but God says you don't. Anything anyone could ever do to you can't compare to what we did to Jesus. If God can forgive us completely for our grievous offense against him, how is it that we can hold on to the hurt?

Matthew 18:28-33

“28But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellow servants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, 'Pay me that thou owest'. 29And his fellow servant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.'. 30 And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, 'till he should pay the debt. 31So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. 32Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, 'O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: 33Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity on thee?”

When I read this account of the servant, who was forgiven by his king for 10,000 talents, and then he went and threw his fellow servant into prison for owing him 100 pence, I feel rather angry at him. Here he was, forgiven of a enormous debt, and then he turns around the next second and throws this other man in prison, over 100 pence? Looking at that I see how unrighteous this action was after what his master had done for him. But thinking about it more, that is exactly what we do when we don't forgive each other. Our unpayable debt was forgiven, but we turn around and can't forgive tiny things in comparison that we find in each other. We're no better then this servant was!

Matthew 18:21-22

“21Then came Peter to him, and said, 'Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? 'Til seven times?' 22Jesus saith unto him, 'I say not unto thee, until seven times: but until seventy times seven.'”

Zachariah 7:9

“Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts , saying, 'Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother:'”

7X70 = 490. We are asked to forgive every person 490 times, per day. Even when it feels impossible, keep forgiving. God forgave the unforgivable, us. We as his people are to forgive everyone their trespasses against us also. Not for our glory, to show off how “good” we are, but for God's glory, to show how good he is. When you let something go, when you forgive someone, sometimes it just feels like you're losing the battle against that person, and you can't see how it glorifies God. We need to get passed our fleshly response that tells us that forgiving is for quitters. We forgive because God forgave us. We didn't deserve forgiveness, but God gave it to us anyway. We are the picture of Christ to this world, if we don't forgive, we are not showing them a very pleasing picture of God, we give him a bad name through our unforgivness. Forgive, it shows God's love in us, and shows others that God is indeed a forgiving and gracious God to all. If we as humans are able to forgive, what wonders God is able to do! Forgive because God first forgave us.
~Bekah