Forgiveness – It Is All About You

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Matthew 6:14-15

 

 

As Christians it’s rare that something is about us. We want everything that we do or say to bring glory to God and good to others. What God teaches will ultimately be for our good as well but our good isn’t to be our top priority.

Now, the great thing about God is that He promises that He will work out everything for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). So, even when things seem awful in our lives we can KNOW that God is at work and He will use our life’s circumstances to grow us in grace, wisdom, knowledge, and understanding.

But, there is one thing that God tells us about that will bring some immediate relief for the one offering it and that’s forgiveness. Think about how many times you’ve needed to forgive someone or be forgiven in your life. When you’re living in unforgiveness of another person it’s painful. It’s like being a prisoner in your own body. Mercifully, you hold the key to your own prison cell. When you finally forgive you’re the one who is set free – not the person you haven’t forgiven.

When we’re the ones needing forgiveness and we have asked for it from the other person our responsibility in that problem is over. It’s up to the person who needs to do the forgiving to let it go and forgive. How often people hold onto these offenses – regardless of whether they are major or minor. They’re the ones who live with the weight of the problems. The one who has sought forgiveness is free.

This is even true of the one who is clueless she has committed some wrong to another or refuses to admit that an action was painful to another person. She goes on with her life without any sleepless nights or anxious thoughts – unlike the one who has not forgiven, who wrestles with unforgiveness, sometimes day and night.

For the Christian this problem of failing to forgive is a real issue because of what God has to say about it. How many times have you said the Lord’s Prayer? Do you hear the words “forgive me as I have forgiven others?” If you or I have not forgiven someone else some minor offense what should God do with us when we pray this prayer? The Bible says that all of us have sinned and all sin is against God. That makes the Lord’s prayer a very serious matter for us to consider when we are wronged by a family member, friend, or co-worker.

If God has saved you, if you know that Christ died for your sin and He is the Lord of your life, you cannot live with unforgiveness. Because God has forgiven us through Christ’s work on the cross we must forgive others.

As we were growing up most of us learned that we were to do to others as we wanted others to do to us. In the matter of forgiveness we are to for others what God has done for us.

Whom do you need to forgive today for some past wrong so that you can live in the freedom that Christ has promised us?