Forgiveness

 “To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against Him; nor have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His teachings which He set before us through His servants the prophets.”

‭‭Daniel‬ ‭9‬:‭9‬-‭10‬ ‭NASB1995‬‬

Forgiveness. Here is a topic that is easy to say that we need to do, but hard to actually do it. Have you ever been wronged by someone? Has anyone ever hurt you or took advantage of you? If you are breathing the answer is YES! We all know the pain. When you experience this, how easy is it to forgive? How do you Love when someone is purposefully doing something to hurt you? 

Have you ever held on to the hurt and pain and not forgiven someone who has wronged you? This is called unforgiveness. Did you know that unforgiveness hurts you more than it hurts the other person? We have the audacity to hold a grudge saying, “I can’t believe they would do that! Wel, I am not going to let it happen again!” And so we hold onto that unforgiveness and the seed of bitterness takes root in our lives. 

Now I want to flip the script to look at this from the other side. How many of you wronged someone? Have you ever done something that you knew would hurt another? Many times this is done in the name of, “I deserve this, so it doesn’t matter if it hurts someone else” or “I want to be happy!” Most people will even defend your position and agree that you should be happy, even at the expense of others. 

Now, don’t take this too far and think I am saying that we should try to make everyone happy. We will never please everyone. I am talking more about the hurts and betrayal we cause to others in the name of our happiness.

So, on one side we defend ourselves and our decisions, but then we hold onto the offense when someone does it to us. Talk about a double standard. And we have all been here. We all try to hold others to a standard higher than ourselves. Because when it is against us they are just being mean, but when it is us we justify it. 

Ok, ok, so what is my point? I’m getting there. The verse above reminds us that we have all rebelled and disobeyed God. We have all wronged Him. Each of us has a part in sending Jesus to the cross. We have sinned and wronged Jesus and others in our lives. There comes a time when we have to stop making excuses for our wrong doing and take responsibility and say, “I am guilty! I need forgiveness!” 

And God forgives us! He lets us off the hook for the stupid stuff that we have done. You remember when Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, it is the sick. I have not come for the righteous, but the sinners!” The truth is, there is no one righteous, no, not one! So what was Jesus saying? Did He not come for everyone? How were some already righteous? They weren’t! They were self righteous! They thought they could make it into heaven by their rituals and actions. In their minds they did not need a savior! It is easy to find ourselves in that place! “I am mostly good,” you might say. “At least I am not like that person.”  

We are sealing our own fate when we do not see our need for Jesus! But when we come to the place of realizing that it is only by the grace of God that we are free from our sins, we understand the importance of forgiveness! “To God belongs Forgiveness and Compassion!” 

Without receiving forgiveness we will never know the importance of extending it! Understanding how much we need it will make it easier to pass on! Jesus actually tells us to forgive so that we can be forgiven! This is more about us understanding the need for forgiveness. If we are holding unforgiveness that means we don’t understand that we too need forgiveness and so then will not receive it! 

To continue on, I know this is a challenge. I have to search my heart everyday for wrongs I am holding onto. Sometimes I realize that I pulled back forgiveness that I have already extended. I think this is why Jesus yeah h us to pray, “forgive us our sins as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us!” Because it is a daily choice. We will be wronged everyday. Sometimes the pain lasts for a long time. But we can still choose to forgive. And continue to choose to forgive. 

Sometimes we will have to forgive people we have never met. How do I do that? Now that’s a good question! But Jesus did it! In the midst of being ridiculed and killed He said, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do!” So He is our example! He set the standard! We have a responsibility to extend the same forgiveness that was given to us!