| Forgiveness... Just How Important Is It? We are instructed to forgive in the same manner that God has forgiven us. But we take for granted how easily He forgives us, by refusing to forgive others who have sinned against us. We can learn so much from the parable of the unforgiving servant found in Matthew 18:21-35, where a king forgave his servant a huge debt owed him. But then his servant went out and threw his friend in jail who owed him a very small amount. When the king heard of it he said to him, "O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity on thee?" Moved with anger, he handed him over to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. "So likewise shall my Heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses." Matthew 18:35 Forgiveness means we must CHOOSE to forget. It's not that we can't remember, but instead, we make a conscious decision to forget, to just let it go. "Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye." Colossians 3:13 And then there are the times we refuse to forgive ourselves for something we have done, even though God has forgiven us; It was the apostle Paul, (before his conversion to the truth), who had Stephen stoned - just for being a Christian. Paul said, "And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; who was before a blasphemer, and a prosecutor, and injurious; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief." 1 Timothy 1:12-13 "...but this one thing I do: forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Jesus Christ." Philippians 3:13-14 We've ALL made big mistakes in our lives, but we must also be able to forgive ourselves. Matthew 6:14-15 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Luke 17:3-4 Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him. Ephesians 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. If we belong to Christ, we are one of His disciples. We need to be forgiving. We need to realize that unforgiveness will kill us. When we pray, we must forgive... forgive, forget and just let it go. It doesn't mean that we don't remember, but that we make a conscious decision NOT to keep bringing it up... we distinctly remember forgetting it! We have forgiven, just as Christ has forgiven us. |
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