Forgiveness Part 3

Hey Everyone!
   I hope you're all doing well! I finally got a letter in the mail the other day from the Batesville Fire Dept. letting me know that my application has been accepted and they want me to come in and interview and test me for the position of EMT-B, all your prayer would be much appreciated for that :)

Well it's finally here.. the post you've all been waiting for. The conclusion to what became a 3 part series on Forgiveness. Today we'll be covering how this all applies to your relationships with one another in the physical.

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Now then, all this has been said how this applies to us and God and so forth, how does it apply to me and my friends, or the jerk at work that I can't stand?

First of all: Forgiveness is one of the fruit by which people will know you by. It is also one of the Chief evidences showing a truly repentant spirit, a forgiving one.

There is a saying I heard not too long ago that I actually quite like. "A forgiven person is to be a forgiving person."

When God has forgiven us, do we really have any right to hold back forgiveness from someone else?

let's look at something else now, a well known story in the Bible. Matthew 18:21-35 is the story of the servant that is forgiven for this HUGE debt he owed, it was literally impossible for him to repay it. In today's currency it would be the equivalent to Billions of dollars.. but what happened? He was forgiven of the debt he owed, he went before his master and he pleaded for a second chance promising he could pay it all back, his master fully knowing he could never do so still forgave the man the debt!

But then what happened? He then went out and finding someone with such a small insignificant debt that was owed to him, say about twenty dollars, he condemned the man! Despite the fact that he had just been forgiven of such a large debt himself! 

This is a look at what God has done for us, we have such a HUGE debt to him, one that we can never pay! But he has still forgiven us of it!

Think about that for a moment. If God has forgiven us so, so much... how can we honestly turn around and not forgive someone else for, quite frankly, anything?!

"When you view the enormity of your sin against God, the injuries that others inflict against you will seem relatively insignificant in comparison!" ~ Alstair Begg

Is that not true though?

Something some people might say is, "Well, I just don't feel like forgiving this guy, I need to feel like forgiving him before I say it to him."

"Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven." Luke 6:37

Did you see the last part of that verse? Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

You are forgiven the way you forgive. I heard this the other day, and it totally made sense to me and gave me a new way to look at forgiveness.

"Forgiveness is not a feeling, it is A PROMISE! When you tell someone you forgive them, you are making a three fold promise to them. You are promising them:

1. I promise you I will not bring the matter up to you again. you have not truly forgiven them if you are constantly reminding them of what it is they have done.

2. I promise you I will not bring the matter up with someone else. Have  you really forgiven them if you turn around are telling everyone you know about the injustice of it all from your point of view?

and 3. I promise I won't bring the matter up to myself, with God's help. Mulling it over and over in your mind is not letting go of the matter, and in your heart you haven't forgiven them."

Wow.. when you put it that way.. there's a few things you haven't forgiven people for aren't there? I know there's a few myself I need to work on..

Another thing I've heard is this- "If I can't forget, then I won't forgive!"

That is just utterly stupid, not to mention futile! Let's reword that though.- "If I don't forgive, I won't forget."

I honestly couldn't tell you the last reason I had to forgive my siblings or someone that hurt me. When you forgive someone, even when you don't "feel" like it, God is faithful and just to bring the feelings into it later and to let you forget the offense.

Well, all this has been said now. It sounds hard don't it? Yeah, it is. It's a hard thing to put into practice and use in your everyday life. But let's face it, is there really any reason that we can't forgive someone? Looking at everything I've researched and heard, and not to mention my own sins against God I've been forgiven for. I would have to say no. 

I hope this helped you all and you enjoyed it.

God Bless,

     Ryan