Forgiveness

[Betty]

Forgiving One Another
Ephesians 4:29-32

An unforgiving spirit is like an insidious cancer
that eats away at a
person until it has a devastating impact. But
while physical cancer
often can’t be seen or felt until it is a real
danger, the cancer of
unforgiveness often steals a person’s joy for
years. Yet there is a sure
healing process for this cancer:

Repentance: You must assume responsibility for
your unforgiving spirit
toward someone and then have a change of mind.
You must ask forgiveness
for your unforgiveness, and then you must forgive
the person in mind.

Release: No longer should you hold over someone
the debt you feel they
owe you. This release is an act of the will.
Feelings have nothing to do
with it, though some people sense a "release" of
their own at this
point.

Recognition: You acknowledge that the person’s
wrongdoing toward you
exposed a weakness in your life. Your resentment,
hostility, bitterness,
and desire to seek vengeance are areas God wishes
to whittle away.

Remembrance: You should remember continuously how
often God forgives
you. How many times have you asked His
forgiveness? How many times has
He said no?

You cannot truly experience the joy of God’s
forgiveness until you
follow His model and forgive those who have
wronged you. Life is so much
sweeter when the heart is tender and not tainted.

Charles Stanley

[Betty]

 Neil Anderson's Daily in Christ

THE CHOICE OF FORGIVENESS
Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ has also forgiven you (Ephesians 4:32).

Most of the ground that Satan gains in the lives of Christians is due to unforgiveness. We are warned to forgive others so that Satan cannot take advantage of us (2 Corinthians 2:10, 11). God requires us to forgive others from our hearts or He will turn us over to the tormentors (Matthew 18:34, 35). Why is forgiveness so critical to our freedom? Because of the cross. God didn't give us what we deserve; He gave us what we needed according to His mercy. We are to be merciful just as our heavenly Father is merciful (Luke 6:36). We are to forgive as we have been forgiven (Ephesians 4:31, 32).

Forgiveness is not forgetting. People who try to forget find that they cannot. God says He will "remember no more" our sins (Hebrews 10:17), but God, being omniscient, cannot forget. "Remember no more" means that God will never use the past against us (Psalm 103:12). Forgetting may be a result of forgiveness, but it is never the means of forgiveness. When we bring up the past and use it against others, we haven't forgiven them.

Forgiveness is a choice, a crisis of the will. We choose to face and acknowledge the hurt and the hate in order to forgive from the heart. Since God requires us to forgive, it is something we can do. (He would never require us to do something we cannot do.) But forgiveness is difficult for us because it pulls against our concept of justice. We want revenge for offenses suffered. But we are told never to take our own revenge (Romans 12:19). "Why should I let them off the hook?" we protest. You let them off your hook, but they are never off God's hook. He will deal with them fairly--something we cannot do.

If you don't let offenders off your hook, you are hooked to them and the past, and that just means continued pain for you. Stop the pain; let it go. You don't forgive someone merely for their sake; you do it for your sake so you can be free. Your need to forgive isn't an issue between you and the offender; it's between you and God.

Lord, I stand amazed at the example of Your forgiveness. I desire to grow in my willingness to forgive those who have hurt me.

[forgiven]

THE COST OF FORGIVENESS
Forgive your brother from your heart (Matthew 18:35 NIV).

Forgiveness is agreeing to live with the consequences of another person's sin. Forgiveness is costly; we pay the price of the evil we forgive. Yet you're going to live with those consequences whether you want to or not; your only choice is whether you will do so in the bondage of bitterness or the freedom of forgiveness. That's how Jesus forgave you--He took the consequences of your sin upon Himself. All true forgiveness is substitutional, because no one really forgives without bearing the penalty of the other person's sin.

Why then do we forgive? Because Christ forgave us. God the Father "made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21). Where is the justice? The cross makes forgiveness legally and morally right: "For the death that He died, He died to sin, once for all" (Romans 6:10).

How do you forgive from the heart? First, you acknowledge the hurt and the hate. If your forgiveness doesn't visit the emotional core of your past, it will be incomplete. This is the great evangelical cover-up. Christians feel the pain of interpersonal offenses, but we won't acknowledge it. Let God bring the pain to the surface so He can deal with it. This is where the healing takes place.

Ask God to bring to your mind those you need to forgive. Make a list of all those who have offended you. Since God has forgiven them by His grace, you can forgive them too. For each person on your list, say: "Lord, I forgive (name) for (offenses)." Keep praying about each individual until you are sure that all the remembered pain has been dealt with. Don't try to rationalize or explain the offender's behavior. Forgiveness deals with your pain, not another's behavior. Remember: Positive feelings will follow in time; freeing yourself from the past is the critical issue.

Lord, I desire to be free from the hurt and the hate of offenses in my past. Today I move beyond desiring to forgive and asking Your help to forgive. Lord, I forgive _________ for ___________.

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This daily devotional is published and distributed by Crosswalk.com. It is written by Neil Anderson at
www.ficm.org

[Betty]

“Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one
another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you” (Colossians 3:13, NIV).


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Risky Reconciliation
by William C. Frey

Reconciliation, said Paul, demonstrates God's power to heal the past, the
present and the future: "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have
gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in
the hope of the glory of God" (Romans 5:1-2, NIV).

In Jesus, God heals the effects of the past and restores the friendship with the
Lord that was discarded because of sin. This relationship transforms our present
and gives us hope for the future.

Reconciliation can also bring healing on a larger scale. One of the most
significant events in the life of the Christian Church in the 20th century has
been the East African revival, which has seen millions of people come to faith
in Jesus Christ since the 1930s.

The revival began when a young man in East Africa read Mark 11:25: "And when you
stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your
Father in heaven may forgive you your sins" (NIV).

The man was overcome by the knowledge that he was harboring hatred for a
brother. He believed that he could not continue to pray until he had done
something about it, so he bicycled 50 miles to confess his sin and seek
reconciliation.

The brother was moved to tears, and the two men experienced the healing love of
Jesus in such a powerful way that they were visibly changed. Friends noticed the
difference, and when they heard the story, they too were moved to repentance.

So the revival began. One act of reconciliation between brothers led to millions
of acts of reconciliation with God.

Although reconciliation is risky, Jesus makes it clear that it is our calling:
"For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will
also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not
forgive your sins" (Matthew 6:14-15, NIV).

If we wait to seek reconciliation until those who have offended us repent, we
may be waiting until the trumpet sounds. But if we take the initiative, that may
be the very thing that frees others to repent. At the very least it will bring
us back into a right relationship with the Father.

The story is told that one of President Abraham Lincoln's advisers once chided
him for his lenient treatment of those who opposed his policies. "You must
destroy your enemies, Mr. President," the adviser said.

Lincoln replied, "Do I not destroy them when I make them my friends?"

Isn't that the way God treats us? Isn't that what restoration through
reconciliation in Christ means? We, who were God's enemies, have been made God's
friends.


Prayer
Lord, thank You for forgiving me. Thank you for reconciling me to Yourself. I
praise you for calling me Your beloved child. Help me today to seek
reconciliation with others whom I have wronged and those who have wronged me. I
ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.