Do I have to Forgive?
Matthew 18:21-35
"Then Peter came up and said to him, 'Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?' Jesus said to him, 'I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven. Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, "Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything." And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, "Pay what you owe." So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, "Have patience with me, and I will pay you." He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, "You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?" And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.'"
Do I have to Forgive? Yes, we must forgive our brothers! We have been forgiven and so we must forgive others!
I don't want to forgive, because it will only enable the other person.
I don't want to forgive, because I will be taken advantage of.
I don't want to forgive, because they will just do it again.
I'll forgive, once I forget about what happened.
I'll forgive, once they come to me and apologize.
We all use these 5 statements in some fashion to justify not forgiving! But these are just rationalizations.
Imagine Unforgiveness as this hideous tumor/growth on your chest (the chest of your soul).
The more you feed unforgiveness, the more it grows! So, if we don't forgive...it will grow!
1. Forgiving doesn't enable...it is on your side. Once you forgive, you can watch out for your brother and help him to not make the same mistake again!
2. Forgiving doesn't allow anyone to take advantage of you...this implies future...forgiving is about the past!
3. Forgiving has nothing with whether they will do it again...do we forgive Peters 7 times? Or Jesus' 70 x 7 times? (Yes it is 490 times, but Jesus is implying that we should never stop)
And what if you don't forgive and they do it again? Do you want a new tumor/growth or the old one to double in size? I think not!
4. You cannot forget until you forgive! It is as simple as that!
5. Forgiveness doesn't depend on others...they may never come to you and apologize! They may not even know that they have wronged you!
God sent His Son into the world that we might receive forgiveness through Him! We must not receive that forgiveness and then like the servant in the story turn on our fellow brothers!
1 John 4:9-11
"In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."
Don't take this the wrong way, I am not altering the Word of God, but I believe that the same could be said of Forgiveness.
In this the forgiveness of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is forgiveness, not that we have forgiven God but that he forgave us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so forgave us, we also ought to forgive one another.
Just as God loved us first and we did not know what love was until we experienced it from God, He forgave us first because we did not know what forgiveness was. We could not love or Forgive until God choose to show it to us. But now we must share what God has shown us with every one else!
In Christ,
David
"Then Peter came up and said to him, 'Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?' Jesus said to him, 'I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven. Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, "Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything." And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, "Pay what you owe." So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, "Have patience with me, and I will pay you." He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, "You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?" And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.'"
Do I have to Forgive? Yes, we must forgive our brothers! We have been forgiven and so we must forgive others!
I don't want to forgive, because it will only enable the other person.
I don't want to forgive, because I will be taken advantage of.
I don't want to forgive, because they will just do it again.
I'll forgive, once I forget about what happened.
I'll forgive, once they come to me and apologize.
We all use these 5 statements in some fashion to justify not forgiving! But these are just rationalizations.
Imagine Unforgiveness as this hideous tumor/growth on your chest (the chest of your soul).
The more you feed unforgiveness, the more it grows! So, if we don't forgive...it will grow!
1. Forgiving doesn't enable...it is on your side. Once you forgive, you can watch out for your brother and help him to not make the same mistake again!
2. Forgiving doesn't allow anyone to take advantage of you...this implies future...forgiving is about the past!
3. Forgiving has nothing with whether they will do it again...do we forgive Peters 7 times? Or Jesus' 70 x 7 times? (Yes it is 490 times, but Jesus is implying that we should never stop)
And what if you don't forgive and they do it again? Do you want a new tumor/growth or the old one to double in size? I think not!
4. You cannot forget until you forgive! It is as simple as that!
5. Forgiveness doesn't depend on others...they may never come to you and apologize! They may not even know that they have wronged you!
God sent His Son into the world that we might receive forgiveness through Him! We must not receive that forgiveness and then like the servant in the story turn on our fellow brothers!
1 John 4:9-11
"In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."
Don't take this the wrong way, I am not altering the Word of God, but I believe that the same could be said of Forgiveness.
In this the forgiveness of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is forgiveness, not that we have forgiven God but that he forgave us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so forgave us, we also ought to forgive one another.
Just as God loved us first and we did not know what love was until we experienced it from God, He forgave us first because we did not know what forgiveness was. We could not love or Forgive until God choose to show it to us. But now we must share what God has shown us with every one else!
In Christ,
David
posted by Mark 1:17 at 9:45 AM
1 Comments:
Neither does forgiveness mean that what you or what the other person did didn't matter, or wasn't really all that bad. If it didn't matter, then what's the point of forgiveness?
Forgiveness is only valuable if the offense was wrong.
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