To forgive is perhaps the most important thing a Christian is required to do by God. Yes, I said REQUIRED. We are not allowed to receive forgiveness for OUR sins, yet refuse to forgive the sins of others. We are not allowed to think that our sin wasn’t as great as THEIRS or that their sin was so bad and in our face that we have an excuse not to forgive them. That simply doesn’t FLY with God. Many times the thing the person did that seems so bad to us was allowed by God in the first place for our own good in some way or another. My own mother wasn’t very kind to me at times. I reminded her of my father whom she had divorced and she didn’t like him much, so I was a reminder of a bad time in her life. It hurt at the time, yes, but if she hadn’t done the things she did that hurt my feelings, I probably would never have gotten to the low place I had to be in in order to receive Christ as savior. It was an undeserved thing she laid on me that put me in that place where I would call upon Jesus. I wouldn’t trade it. Here’s an example of that sort of thing.
Genesis 50:17 (NKJV)
17 ‘Thus you shall say to Joseph: “I beg you, please forgive the trespass of your brothers and their sin; for they did evil to you.”’ Now, please, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of your father.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to him.
Joseph’s brothers had done what many would have considered to be UNFORGIVEABLE in selling him into slavery. However, it was all in the plan of God and Joseph forgave them.
Numbers 15:27-29 (NKJV)
27 ‘And if a person sins unintentionally, then he shall bring a female goat in its first year as a sin offering.
28 So the priest shall make atonement for the person who sins unintentionally, when he sins unintentionally before the Lord, to make atonement for him; and it shall be forgiven him.
People can unintentionally do things that are offensive to others. Don’t hold things against someone that they didn’t INTEND to offend with. This holds with a child who does something a parent doesn’t like, but didn’t intend to offend or disobey in what they did. EXPLAIN why what they did was wrong, but don’t get ANGRY at them and don’t PUNISH them when what they did only offended YOU and did not offend GOD. For example, my son accidentally knocked a figurine off it’s shelf once and it broke. I was very ANGRY. I should not have been. He didn’t do it on purpose.
Numbers 12:8-15 NKJV
8 I speak with him face to face, Even plainly, and not in dark sayings; And he sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid To speak against My servant Moses?”
9 So the anger of the Lord was aroused against them, and He departed.
10 And when the cloud departed from above the tabernacle, suddenly Miriam became leprous, as white as snow. Then Aaron turned toward Miriam, and there she was, a leper.
11 So Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord! Please do not lay this sin on us, in which we have done foolishly and in which we have sinned.
12 Please do not let her be as one dead, whose flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother’s womb!”
13 So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “Please heal her, O God, I pray!”
14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, would she not be shamed seven days? Let her be shut out of the camp seven days, and afterward she may be received again.”
15 So Miriam was shut out of the camp seven days, and the people did not journey till Miriam was brought in again.
Do you know that you have the power to bring God to forgive someone when they have trespassed against you AND against God? Moses did that for Miriam. When someone does something really BAD, I’ve gone to God and BEGGED Him to forgive them. God showed me once when someone had been just really AWFUL to me that I should go to God like a lawyer in defense of a client and ask for Him to forgive her. I did that. Ask God to REMIT or throw away their sin and not remember it any more. I tell God, “Lord, it was against ME they did this thing, and I’m willing to forgive it. It did me no harm. PLEASE forgive them and let it be as if they had never done the deed!” God listens to that and it’s a very high thing to do for someone.
Matthew 6:12-15 (NKJV)
12 And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.
13 And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
If we have forgiven others, we have more of a leg to stand on in asking God to forgive US.
Matthew 18:21-22 (NKJV)
21 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.
The number of times we should forgive someone is, simply, limitless.
Mark 11:24-26 (NKJV)
24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
25 “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.
26 But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”
A minister once told me, “When God starts handing out His promises, EVERYONE is going to reap except those harboring BITTERNESS and UNFORGIVENESS.” Is hating someone worth losing out on the blessings of God for?
2 Corinthians 2:9-11 (KJV)
9 For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things.
10 To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ;
11 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.
This man had brought an offense to the church. God is telling the congregation to forgive him and reinstate him because if THEY forgive HIM, then GOD can ALSO forgive him for the offense and it closes the door on Satan’s getting the advantage over them by way of the man’s being turned out of the church. Church discipline should seek restoration. Another point here is that when YOU forgive someone, then GOD can forgive them, too, which is certainly the most important thing.
Ephesians 4:32 (KJV)
32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
You can’t call yourself a Christian and not be kind and forgiving to people. That doesn’t mean you have to lay down and let them run all over you. You have to use wisdom when dealing with people. If someone is clearly a back stabber and would betray you, don’t keep company with them. That doesn’t mean you can’t forgive them and be polite to them.
The upshot off all of this is that Jesus died a horrible, painful, shameful death so YOU could be forgiven. There is NOBODY that we should not forgive for wrongs they have done to us.
sherrycook 