Since I was two years old, every night before we'd go to bed, my dad would read to us Mark 11:22-26, which speaks of a faith that can move mountains, but ends with; "Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions." How strange that a section on "faith" should end with "forgiveness."
Our modern society doesn't often address forgiveness. Punishment, repayment, apologies, are often encouraged but they skirt the issue and never hit the target. But forgiveness directly effects both our relationship with God, and our relationship with others.
So what is forgiveness? To fully
comprehend the importance of forgiveness to our Christian life and our walk
with God we have to break it down into specifics: to seek forgiveness, and to
forgive.
An apology is not a profession of
guilt nor is it expressing a desire to be right with God or man. It's only an
expression of sorrow for our behavior or another person's misunderstanding of
it. But to seek forgiveness is acknowledging that we've committed a wrong, we
are guilty. We are humbling ourselves before another person, acknowledging our responsibility
for our actions, and asking them to not hold it against us. Forgiveness isn't
popular in our society because it requires humility and a humbling of ourselves
before another party. "Will you forgive me?" demands an answer and places
us at the mercy of the offended party.
But forgiving may be the more important of the two. Forgiving not only
restores the relationship between us and the offending party, but it liberates
us from being tied to the past and our emotions. The act of forgiving destroys the
seeds of bitterness before they have the chance to sprout. And sprout they
will. In granting our complete forgiveness (there is no such thing as partial
forgiveness) we are giving up the right to hold the offense against them, to
carry a grudge; in effect we are cleaning the slate. To realize how important
this is for the injured party you have to understand what happens to us if we
aren't willing to completely forgive:
1.
God doesn't
hear our prayers. (Mark 11:26) There is a breech in our relationship with God.
2.
The measure
we use against our fellow man will be measured unto us. (Mt. 6:12, Mt. 7:2) God
may not be willing to forgive us our sins.
3.
We create an
impenetrable barrier between us and the offender. (They can do little right as
we are constantly holding their past sins against them. What starts out as
hurt, becomes a grudge, which turns into bitterness toward man and God, and we
end up lonely and miserable.)
The wonderful thing is that
forgiveness, with God's grace is completely within our ability. While seeking
forgiveness requires humility, giving forgiveness requires mercy. Jesus, who
knew we might have difficulty offering grace, instructs us to remember how much
He has forgiven us and paints a very strong picture of the importance of
forgiveness: "You wicked servant! [That
would be the person unwilling to forgive] I forgave you all that debt
because you besought me; and should not you have had mercy on your fellow
servant, as I had mercy on you?'" (Mt. 18:32-33)
Joy! When we are reminded of
God's forgiveness towards us and when we are able to replicate that forgiveness
towards others, we will overflow with the joy of the Lord, our eyes are opened
to His lovingkindness, and we enter into His peace.
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