Sometimes it is hard to forgive others when they have wronged us. When we hold grudges we open the door for the enemy to enter our life. The Bible makes it clear that forgiving others is a command not a choice, (Matthew 18:21-35). We have the choice to obey or disobey the word. But Jesus warns us that our experience of forgiveness from God will be blocked if we are not able to forgive others.
I realize that sometimes the pain may be so deep that it is almost impossible to forgive those who have hurt us so deeply. It is impossible for us alone to forgive. Only with Jesus are we able to forgive and completely turn the hurt over to the Lord. Even at the time Jesus was beaten and nailed to the cross He prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do,” (Luke 23:34). In Mark 11:25 Jesus tells us, “Whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.”
Ephesians 4:31-32 says, “Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor or evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.”
God loves you and wants His best for you. Ask God to help you forgive and pray that the Lord will use you to show the love of God. You will find that God will bring you peace and comfort.
I agree with what you say! I would add a furtherance to this with the following : For the person in the midst of begrudging someone it is important to realize that forgiveness has a number of aspects. When we received the Lord Jesus by faith, the Bible tells us, we received a total and complete pardon for our sins. When God sees us now, He considers us fully and completely righteous in standing before Him. This is true throughout our lives, and without any works of our own. By the act of what theologians call “imputation” he credits us with the righteousness that is in His Son, Jesus Christ. So, in this sense, we are already forgiven. We will never be more or less forgiven than we were at the moment we received Christ as our Savior. That means that even in the midst of our begrudging attitudes, God considers us righteous.
ReplyDeleteYou should rightly be protesting about now,” but what about, ‘God is of purer eyes than to look upon sin?’” Well, as Sheila said, our experience of forgiveness takes a hit when we give in to the temptation? But God has an additional strategy to deal with us as continuing sinners. Because deal with us He must! But the mechanics of this is beyond the scope of this comment. Simply said in Heb 12:6, “For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth and scourgeth every son [or daughter] He receiveth.” Heb 12:7 expands, “If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons [or daughters]; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?” Further reading: 1 Peter 4:19; James 1:2-6; and especially Rom 5:1-11!