The life of Jesus – 13
September 11,2014
Forgiveness
Luke 6:37-38 Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.
We recently had to deal with a married couple where infidelity took place. Our hearts was broken for them, as we have seen the devastation this has brought to their relationship. We have seen this before and had to help many couples in the past dealing with this issue. It is always hard to experience this but we have seen God heal and restore this so many times. It always starts with forgiveness. This is one of the most difficult things to do and there are valid reasons for that. When someone so offended have to forgive they have to look past their emotions and start with the decision to forgive.
What we have found in the past is that the offended party feels like you don’t understand their hurt and disappointment. That is true in the sense that this has never happened to us. We do however understand that the hurt and disappointment is real. The reason the offended party finds it hard is because they fell that if they just forgive the one that offended them, then the one who committed the offence will get away without being punished for their offence. This is real and it is hard to accept that someone that did this much hurt to me might get away wit it. We all want justice and that means that you pay for what you did.
The second reason people find it hard to forgive is the fact that if you get away with what you did the chances are you might do it to someone else as well and we don’t want you to do it again to someone else. This is also true when we look at how many times someone committed the same crime over and over again. A leopard can’t change his spots right?
Lastly we see people struggle with forgiveness because they get a two-dollar apology for a ten-dollar offence. This is critical because as long as you receive an apology that does not measure up to the offence committed, reconciliation and restoration will elude your relationship with that person. Forgiveness is not being sorry you got caught with your hand in the cookie jar. If I steal your car and say that I am sorry I did, but never give your car back, you will most probably not believe the fact that I am sorry and you can say you forgive me but as long as you see me driving around in your car you will struggle with your decision. Forgiveness is real when repentance is real.
This brings up an important thing for us to look at. Because we don’t preach sin and the consequences of sin and how devastating it is, repentance from sin has been watered down to an apology instead of a broken heart for what we have done. Godly sorrow leads to repentance. When last did you see someone broken over his or her sins? Many ask forgiveness without true repentance and forever struggle with guilt. Forgiveness is real when repentance is real. Guilt is removed when forgiveness is real.
In Luke the scripture speaks of not judging because we all stand to be judged. It says condemn not because we all were condemned. The words condemn here literally means to be declared guilty. Don’t declare someone guilty but allow the Holy Spirit to convict him or her. Lastly we need to forgive as we are forgiven. God did not judge us, He judged Christ on the cross. God did not condemn us or declared us guilty as Jesus was made to be guilty and condemned for us. And then God forgave us of all our trespasses. When we look at the next statement in this verse it gives us a key as to how we need to be.
Give and it shall be given unto you. I believe this is not speaking about giving money or gifts but it actually speaks about how we should give forgiveness. Good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. When we forgive in this way we will receive the same kind of forgiveness back to us. This is the way God have forgiven us from all our trespasses. We got away with a lot when God punished Jesus and not us.
Recently one of the racers did something and we loved him through it. He deserved to come of the race but we fought for him to stay and promised to work with him, as he needed some guidance. Afterwards we heard the comment that was made. “ I got away with it,” he told another team member. He thought he won the argument to stay on the race. When they shared this with me because they felt he should be reprimanded, I corrected them. “He just gave me the greatest compliment I have had in a long time,” I said. It baffled them and I had to explain it again. “He just told you all that I loved him well, just like God loves me.” You see we all got away with it. God loved us really well.
Where do we start with forgives? It starts when we decide to forgive and allow our hearts to catch up with our emotions. Please don’t deny the way you feel but don’t let emotions determine what you should do. The word of God is clear. Forgive as you have been forgiven.
