"When I was a kid, I used to pray every night
for a new bicycle. Then I realized that the Lord doesn't work that way... so I
stole a bicycle... and asked him to forgive me."
Well, there are 100s of jokes about forgiveness-
the one above is by Emo Phillips- and there are legions of people who actually
believe that God's forgiving nature allows them to do whatever they
please... but today I want to talk about forgiveness in a serious vein
because... forgiving lies at the very heart of what it means to be a
Christian! Jesus' entire ministry was dedicated to forgiveness and
renewal. Among his last words on the cross were, "Father, forgive
them...," and when his disciples received the Holy
Spirit (John 20), he said, "If you forgive the sins of any, they will be
forgiven." In short, our Lord lived and died with forgiveness on his
mind, and it seems to me that the most quintessential thing we can do as
Christians is to FORGIVE others. Friends, if you want to do something
today for Jesus, get out there and forgive someone.You have the power to do it, and in the
forgiving... you will free yourself from the same chains. Also, according to
Matthew 6:12, every time we say the Lord's Prayer, we affirm that there is a
distinct relationship between forgiving others and being forgiven ourselves. In
short, apart from accepting Christ, forgiving others is one of our single
greatest Christian acts! If you want to do what Christ did, get out there and
forgive someone and do it again and again and again- 70 times 7- as a way of
life! Forgiving is not just another good trait. It is- more than a clerical
collar or church attendance- a sign that a person has experienced rebirth and
that he or she is growing in Christ. A forgiving spirit is a Christian
spirit... so let me offer a few thoughts that may be helpful... as you seek to
be more and more Christ-like:
1. Forgiving others is a choice! It's
not a feeling. Each day, when we ask Jesus to show us ways in which we can
witness to Him, we are agreeing to forgive another person if the Holy Spirit
opens the door- no matter how badly that person has hurt us, or how long we
have piled up resentments, or how much we think that the person deserves to be
punished. Forgiving others, especially those who need forgiveness most, is not
easy... but If you're waiting to feel like forgiving another person, you may be
waiting a very, very long time;
2, Forgiving others will make you
healthy! Yes, it's true. For the engineers and scientifically minded, let
me say that forgiving others... a) helps lower cholesterol, blood
pressure, and heart rate; b) improves sleep quality; c) strengthens immunity
among HIV-positive patients;
d) reduces depression, anxiety, and anger; e)
lowers risk of drug abuse; and f) allows YOU to move on with your life In
short, forgive... even if you think it's all about you. However,
3. Forgiving others
restores our relationship with GOD. Friends, resentment is a
deadly spiritual cancer, which like sin, will block our growth in Christ and
hinder our relationship with God. If we're burdened with anger and resentment,
we won't pray, study, or serve God as we
should, and we will deprive ourselves, our
neighbors, and our God of the joy that emanates from a healthy, loving
relationship. Refusing to forgive others creates a lose-lose-lose scenario
and the entire world is lesser for it. This is why Christ urges us to
restore relationships with one
another... before we come to His table; (Matt.
5:23)
4. Forgiving others... fulfills the new
Commandment that Jesus gave in John 13:34- which calls us to
love one another AS he has loved us! As Christians, we are called to
love each other AS Christ loved us, and while this includes a lot of
things, it MUST include forgiving one another. To talk about Christ-like love
without talking about radical forgiveness would be nonsensical;
5. Forgiving is NOT the same as
minimizing or denying the pain you have incurred! Some people,
even those who have been hurt badly, dismiss the pain that they've experienced.
"I'm fine," they say, or "It's nothing." Well, you're not
fine and it is something! We are all God’s children. We are all precious in His
sight. Each one of us carries the image of God within us, and in Christ, each
of us is an heir to His throne. In Christ, we are worth loving, even worth dying
for, and no one has permission to violate us, dismiss us, or diminish us in any
way. Thus, while we must find the grace to forgive, we must also have
the courage to confront the full depth and breadth of the
sin that we endured;
6. Forgiving sin has NOTHING to do with
tolerating evil! When one of us hurts or offends another (and it's
just a matter of time), we will forgive one another's debts, but that does NOT mean
that, individually or corporately, we will tolerate the behavior involved.
Things like
abuse, theft, harassment, bullying...cannot be
tolerated in any Christian and/or loving family; and finally:
7. Forgiveness MUST have a face! I cannot
forgive anyone anything in the abstract. I cannot forgive all sinners
everywhere; I can't forgive the Nazis for murdering the Jews; I can't forgive Andrew
Jackson for the Trail of Tears; and I can't forgive people who haven't sinned
against
me. I feel
bad about these things, and I'll work to make the world a more compassionate place,
but I can't let go of someone else's pain. This means that forgiving others is
a behavior and not a thought, and that it is specific and not abstract.
Forgiveness must have a face, and to be a forgiving person, I must show the
grace and courage that Corrie ten
Boom showed when she met one of the Nazi guards who
had abused her at Ravensbruck. Listen now, because this story captures the
essence of real forgiveness…
It was in a church in Munich that a saw him- a
balding, heavy-set man in a grey overcoat, a brown, felt hat in his hands.
People were filing out of the basement where I had just spoken. It was
1947 and I had come from Holland with the message that God forgives... And
that's when I saw him, working his way forward against the others. One
moment I saw the overcoat and the brown hat; the next, a blue uniform and
a visored cap with its skull and crossbones. It came back with a rush: the
huge room with its harsh overhead lights, the pathetic pile of dresses
and shoes in the center of the floor, the shame of walking naked past this
man. I could see my sister's frail form ahead of me, ribs sharp beneath
the parchment skin. Betsie, how thin you were! Betsie and I had been
arrested for concealing Jews during the Nazi occupation of Holland;
this man had been a guard at Ravensbruck concentration camp where we were
sent... "You mentioned Ravensbruck in your talk," he said,
"I was a guard there...but since that time," he went on, "I
became a Christian. I know that God has forgiven me the cruel things I did
there, but I would like to hear it from your lips as well... 'Fraulein...
(his hand came out... will you forgive me'"
And I stood there- I whose sins
had every day to be forgiven- and could not. Betsie had died in that
place. Could he erase her slow, horrible death simply by the asking? It
couldn't have been many seconds that he stood there, hand held out,
but to me it seemed hours... as I wrestled with the most difficult thing I
had ever had to do. For I had to do it- I knew that... And still I
stood there, with coldness clutching my heart. But forgiveness is not an
emotion- I knew that too. Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will
can function regardless of the temperature of the heart. "Jesus, help
me." I prayed silently. "I can lift my hand. I can do that much. You
supply the feeling." And so, woodenly, mechanically, I thrust my hand
into the one stretched out to me. And as I did an incredible thing took place.
The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, sprang into our
joined hands. And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being,
bringing tears to my eyes. "I forgive you brother," I cried,
"With all my heart." For a long moment we grasped each
other's hands, the former guard and the former prisoner. I had never knew God's
love so intensely... as I did then,
Can I hear an "amen"? Get out there and
forgive someone!
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