September 13, 2020

I Still Believe (Part 6)

I Still Believe God wants us to Forgive

KEY TEXTS:
Colossians 3:12-13
12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

Matthew 6:14-15
For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

I still believe that God wants us to forgive. The issue of forgiveness is foundational to our Spiritual life.

“Forgiveness is God’s invention for coming to terms with a world in which, despite their best intentions, people are unfair to each other and hurt each other deeply. He began by forgiving us. And he invites us all to forgive each other. Forgiving seems almost unnatural. Our sense of fairness tells us people should pay for the wrong they do. But forgiving is love’s power to break nature’s rule. To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.”
― Lewis B. Smedes, Forgive and Forget: Healing the Hurts We Don’t Deserve

Thoughts on Forgiveness

Forgiveness is Gods will for our lives
Sometimes forgiveness is easy
Sometimes Forgiveness is incredibly difficult
Forgiveness means clearing someone’s debt
Forgiveness does not mean minimizing the offense
Forgiveness is not justification of their actions
Forgiveness is not dependent on someone else receiving it
Forgiveness does not mean that relationship will be restored
Not forgiving is detrimental to our lives
Unforgiveness is a weapon the enemy uses to destroy our lives
Forgiveness can be a long process
Forgiveness means letting go of the past and saying goodbye to the pain
Forgiveness doesn’t absolve people from the consequences of their actions
Forgiveness is in great part determined by our understanding of how much we have
been forgiven