WHAT REALLY IS FORGIVENESS?
WHAT REALLY IS FORGIVENESS?
October 20, 2022
In Global Harvest Church, Maryland, Lagos, we have been on a journey this month, learning ‘The pursuit of peace’ as commanded in Hebrews 12:14. This pursuit requires a conscious and careful watchfulness over our hearts to avoid any ‘Root of bitterness’. When the root of bitterness is allowed, it bears fruits of resentment, hatred, malice, immorality, separation and divorce, jealousy and envy, violence and murder. The pursuit of peace is a journey in the opposite direction and it begins with Forgiveness. Where there is real and total forgiveness, bitterness cannot develop roots into the soil of our hearts.
What then is forgiveness? The word conjures different ideas in different minds but as always, the Bible remains our reference point. Firstly, Forgiveness is not forgetting. The choice of God not to refer to our wrongs anymore and erase its record against us does not mean a loss of memory by the Almighty God. I’m Matthew 18: 21 – 35 (TPT), we see the story of a servant who owed his master a billion dollars and couldn’t pay. His master out of compassion forgave the debt. Unfortunately, his fellow servant owed him twenty thousand dollars and he wouldn’t forgive him but got him arrested and locked up. This led to a repudiation of the forgiveness of a billion dollar debt by his master when he heard of the servant’s wickedness against a fellow servant. He forgave earlier but did not forget. Forgiveness is not forgetting but rather a choice not to be negatively affected by the circumstances anymore.
Forgiveness is not giving the offender perpetual room to hurt. This error has led to endless abuses and at times the loss of life. Thinking forgiveness means staying in a toxic relationship, many women and some men too have lost their lives to abusive spouses. Toxic friendships and controlling relationships are equally not worthy of our permission for perpetuation. You can forgive people who look down, talk down and despise you without allowing them to continue hurting you. You can forgive and still confront, forgive and distant, forgive and protect, forgive and defend yourself. God does not want us bearing grudges but however expects that we make all efforts to reconcile. Reconciliation is not possible with perpetuation of wrong. It will only lead to increased resentment and bitterness.
Forgiveness is not fairness and justice. Those who always fight for their rights will never rise above human ability. Justice demands retribution. Having been betrayed and sold to slavery by his brothers, justice should have demanded the imprisonment or death of Joseph’s brothers. Rather than that, Joseph provided food, shelter and generational security to his siblings. In what is a great semblance of the New covenant work of Grace, they received mercy they did not deserve and abundant favour they did not merit. Forgiveness is an act of God’s grace and does not wait for the penitence of the offender. The Lord Jesus asked the father to forgive those murderers who crucified Him. If the Lord had sought justice, salvation would never have been theirs. So also did Stephen offer forgiveness to those who stoned him to death. This was a death to which Saul of Tarsus consented to. Saul’s offence against Stephen if not forgiven, could have led to his eternal damnation and not his growing spiritually to become a great Apostle.
Biblical forgiveness is giving others the same grace of forgiveness that Christ gave us through His finished work of Grace. It is choosing to let go of the right to vengeance by faith, trusting the grace of God to take us beyond the pains of offence. It’s a choice to move beyond the past to embrace a new future. It is a declaration in faith in spite of contrary feelings that we forgive. It is backing the declaration with prayer and acts of kindness.
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One response to “WHAT REALLY IS FORGIVENESS?”
[…] The pursuit of peace is a journey in the opposite direction and it begins with Forgiveness. Where there is real and total forgiveness, bitterness cannot develop roots into the soil of our hearts. Read More Part 1 True forgiveness believes that according to the Word of God the love of God is poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, giving us the capacity for supernatural love and forgiveness(Romans 5:5). The instruction of Paul is to forgive others as God in Christ forgave us. This forgiveness is total, unconditional and perpetual. Such is beyond the natural and only possible by the Spirit of Christ who lives within us. The reliance of Faith is always on the Grace of God and never on human ability. In facing a challenge beyond his power(a thorn in the flesh), Paul sought the Lord whose answer to him was “My Grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness”(2 Corinthians 12.9). When we reach the end of our abilities, God’s supernatural strength takes over. God’s Grace stretches us beyond our human limitations. Faith speaks in line with the Word of God. It declares I forgive your traducement of my person. I forgive those who hurt me. It mentions their names and declares they are forgiven for the evil they have done even when it does not feel like it. Faith prays for those who despitefully use us(Matthew 5:44) and blesses those who curse us (Romans 12:14). It does not render evil for evil, railing for railing but instead blessing(1 Peter 3:9). It makes declarations in line with the Word of God and His love shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Statements like ‘I can never forgive Victor, I will never forgive Victoria’ are not in line with real forgiveness. In the process of praying and blessing people, our hearts are melted and mended by the love of God. God taught me long ago to pray for people when they have hurt me and I discovered that the flesh is subdued during that process. Praying and blessing rid the heart of feelings of anger, hatred, and resentment. True forgiveness reflects on the love of God and accordingly extends the same grace to others who have offended us. God has forgiven us ALL our trespasses in Christ Jesus (Colossians 2:13-14, Ephesians 1:7). Forgiveness is always available for us at all times and so must we also be forgiving at all times. The Lord Jesus asking us to forgive 70 X 7 in a day means we should forgive infinitely and it’s possible. Through our hurts and pains, through our tears and sighs, we can reach into the depths of our hearts for the grace to let go and let God! PrevPreviousWHAT REALLY IS FORGIVENESS? […]