What is forgiveness? Are believers considered clean by God? And what should our attitude be toward others who have hurt us? Two types of forgiveness appear in the Bible: God’s pardon of our sins, and our obligation to pardon others. This subject is so important that our eternal destiny depends upon it.
Mankind has a sinful nature. Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden, and humans have been sinning against God ever since. God loves us too much to let us destroy ourselves in Hell. He provided a way for us to be forgiven, and that way is through Jesus Christ. Jesus confirmed that in no uncertain terms when he said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6,) God’s plan of salvation was to send Jesus, his only Son, into the world as a sacrifice for our sins.
That sacrifice was necessary to satisfy God’s justice. Moreover, that sacrifice had to be perfect and spotless. Because of our sinful nature, we cannot repair our broken relationship with God on our own. Only Jesus was qualified to do that for us. At the Last Supper, on the night before his crucifixion, he took a cup of wine and told his apostles, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins…”
Forgiveness in the Bible is a prominent theme. Yet, it’s not uncommon for Christians to have questions about forgiveness. The act of forgiving does not come easy for most of us. Our natural instinct is to recoil in self-protection when we’ve been injured. We don’t naturally overflow with mercy, grace and understanding when we’ve been wronged. The question then is: Is forgiveness a conscious choice, a physical act involving the will, or is it a feeling, an emotional state of being? I believe forgiveness is a choice we make through a decision of our will, motivated by obedience to God and his command to forgive.
We forgive by faith out of obedience. Since forgiveness goes against our nature, we must forgive by faith, whether we feel like it or not. We must trust God to do the work in us that needs to be done so that the forgiveness will be complete. I believe God honors our commitment to obey Him and our desire to please him when we choose to forgive. He completes the work in his time. We must continue to forgive (our job), by faith, until the work of forgiveness (the Lord’s job), is done in our hearts.
Praise be to God!
Solomzi
Prayer: Lord, I am angry. I am hurt. …(name of person/ people) did this … to me, and I cannot imagine why. I feel so betrayed, and I know you say that I should forgive them, but I don’t know how. I just don’t know how to get over these emotions. How do you do it? How to you constantly forgive us when we wrong and hurt you? Lord, I ask that you give me the strength to forgive. I ask that you place on my heart a spirit of forgiveness. I know this person/people said or have not said they were sorry. They know what they did was wrong. I may never forget what they did, and I’m sure our relationship will never be the same, but I don’t want to live with this burden of anger and hatred any longer. Lord, I want to forgive. Please, Lord, help my heart and mind embrace it. In your name, Amen.