Forgiving

On my last post I talked a little about asking for forgiveness, but what about forgiving others? Are we to just forgive people whether they ask for it or not, or are we supposed to wait till they come to us? When and how do we forgive? Let's see what the Lord says in His Word.

"And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses."
- Mark 11:25

"And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from the evil one."
- Luke 11:4

"Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, 'I repent,' you shall forgive him."
- Luke 17:4

"And be kind to one another and forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you."
- Ephesians 4:32

"Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do."
- Colossians 3:12-13

"But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared."
- Psalm 130:4

The Lord, full of mercy and compassion, and justice forgives us of our sins when we come before Him in repentance and not before (1 Samuel 7:3; 2 Kings 17:13; 2 Chronicles 7:14, 30:6; Isaiah 55:11; Jeremiah 36:3; Ezekiel 18:21, 33:11; Zechariah 1:3; Matthew 3:2; Acts 17:30). This tells us that we cannot expect to be forgiven of our sins without asking Him for forgiveness.

The grace of God is something that we can't earn or work for, but it certainly isn't given to those who are not seeking Him. The professing church today has been preaching a message of grace without truly understanding what God's grace is really all about. In fact, most of us have no idea what grace even means.

Grace
G5485
χάρις
charis
khar'-ece
From G5463; graciousness (as gratifying), of manner or act (abstract or concrete; literal, figurative or spiritual; especially the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life; including gratitude): - acceptable, benefit, favour, gift, grace (-ious), joy liberality, pleasure, thank (-s, -worthy).

The grace of God is His influence on our hearts which then reflects, or shines, outward in our lives. In other words His will in our life produces fruit. That's how James can say that faith without works is dead (James 2:14-26).

So what is God's influence? It is His Law written upon our hearts by the Holy Spirit because of Jesus' atoning sacrifice, and all of which reflects through our lives in good works which God had prepared before hand (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 36:27; Matthew 5:16-19; Ephesians 2:8-10).

So the forgiveness that God brings and which is unchanging because HE is unchanging, cannot be given unless we come to Him first. Does this apply with us forgiving others? What's interesting about the Scriptures that we read earlier is that almost (if not every) situation seems to be dealing amongst the body of Christ. But even if a non-believer asks for forgiveness it would appear that we are to forgive them, but most certainly if it is a brother or sister in Messiah. There is no doubt that we are to forgive those who have sinned against us but then come asking for forgiveness. If they show fruit bearing evidence of repentance then we are commanded by the Lord to forgive them.

But should we forgive those who don't ask for forgiveness? Though we are certainly NOT God, we are to follow Him as our example and walk as He walked (1 John 2:6). However, again because we are NOT God we are not without sin. Our relationship with other people is affected by this. Christ, who was/is without sin, forgives us of our sins when we come to Him in repentance. Can we do the same being sinners ourselves? Though we are sinners, if we are IN Him and abide in His love then the Holy Spirit gives us the strength to obey His voice. He also brings about fellowship among those who individually have fellowship with Messiah. If a brother sins against us it does not appear that we should automatically forgive them unless they come to us and ask for forgiveness. Until they come, though, we should certainly be praying for them, showing them love and grace in our actions and words toward them.

The context of passages like Mark 11:25 is clearly dealing with our sin against our brother or sister - the sin of unforgiveness.

"And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses."
- Mark 11:25

We are clearly told not to harbor anger unjustly toward anyone (Psalm 4:4; Ephesians 4:26) and surely the Lord will not forgive us if we will not forgive those who come to us asking for it.

Paul writes in his second letter to the church in Corinth,

"so that on the contrary, you ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow. Therefore, I urge you to reaffirm your love to him. For to this end I also wrote, that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all things. Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices."
- 2 Corinthians 2:7-11

We really should know better as to what the enemy of our souls is doing to get us to turn away from the Lord. If anyone has been made to sorrow (a godly sorrow to be exact) then we should forgive them and not give Satan an open door in which to bring division in Messiah's body. That person which was sorrowful was obviously experiencing a godly sorrow which produces repentance leading to salvation (2 Corinthians 7:10)! Who are we to deny forgiveness to someone who has repented?! The only way Paul could say to forgive someone is if they were in that place where they had experienced the sorrow of the Lord and asked for His forgiveness, which then would lead any who are already His to forgive that person.

We can become too haughty, too self absorbed to notice that we are in the same place as everyone else - we ALL need to seek the Lord of heaven and earth for salvation and to set our minds on things above rather than on things of the earth (Colossians 3:1-3). In other words looking unto Him rather than ourselves or the things of the flesh (our sinful nature).

I have often noticed that I am quick to judge, but slow to listen and seek His guidance. If I listened to my Savior more often I would see others as He sees them. I would reach out to others as He reaches out to them, and I would forgive those who need and want it. I've been forgiven and I don't deserve it. That should say it all. His commandments, His statutes, His judgments are righteous and true, they speak His truth and I hold them close because they are His words. In them I see that His love is greater than anything I could imagine and yet simple enough for a child to understand. I'm forgiven because He was forsaken. Amen.

Hallelujah! His mercy endure forever!