THE CHURCH - FORGIVENESS IS OBEDIENCE TO GOD
Reading: Matthew 18 v 21- 22, Psalm 130 v 4, Acts 13 v 38, 26
v 18, Ephesians 1 v 7, 4 v 38
Forgiveness is a choice one has to make; it is an act of
pardon. Forgive us our sins, is a statement which seems we will always have
issues with sin. Superficially, men and women do not seem to worry much about
their sins. It is important to remember that no man is an island and because of
this we sin in community and are sinned against in community. But the great
challenge is that as forgiven people we are to be known as forgiving people.
You may say this is very hard at times and you are right, but God is a great
forgiver of us.
In the Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians 4 v 32, says,
"And be kind to one another, tender hearted forgiving one another, even as
God in Christ forgave you. This verse gets me every time. As I come to God in
prayer, I must come with a forgiving heart so that it can be said, "like
father, like son." Yes it is all by the grace of God - not by might nor by
power but by the spirit of God. Forgiveness does not begin with us, but with
God Himself. If, and so ours is to obey what the master is saying. For every
mission to be successful, forgiveness plays a vital role, because no personal
vendettas and grudges, unnecessarily.
However, there are ways for forgiveness that can assist us
as we make a choice in this act of pardon.
1) CONDITIONAL FORGIVENESS - if someone apologizes, I will
forgive the person with a condition, strings attached. It is like a suspended
sentence for a period only known to myself.
2) PARTIAL - this type of forgiveness is when I forgive but
do not forget. Anytime this person behaves funny or I suspect the behaviour to
be funny, will quickly remind the person of yesterday or so misdeeds.
3) DELAYED FORGIVENESS - I will forgive but give me time. In
this case it becomes that needs the Holy Spirit to search the mind and soul to
enable me to forgive.
4) TOTAL AND COMPLETE FORGIVENESS - In this case you are
trusting that HE is God of justice, acknowledging that God knows the truth and
allowing Him to be the judge.
Forgiveness does not make the other person right but it sets
you FREE!!! It just means you have surrendered completely unto the LORD. You
know what harbouring unforgiveness is like drinking poison and hoping your
enemy will die. Here we go again - this is the way to go.
5) SELF-FORGIVENESS - Forging oneself of the past mistakes,
regrets and guilt is self-forgiveness. We must go before God and ask Him to
restore all the wasted years. We must receive God's forgiveness so that we are
in turn able to forgive others.
Just like in conflict management, people tend to reason
whether:
1) My way
2) His way
3) Her way
4) Their way
5) Our way
but I want to put it categorically clear that it should be
God's way.
Forgiveness is a gift that we must give to others over and
over again. It is the oil that soothes a love relationship and it is the oil
that we need to use over and over again.
Let us pray without ceasing so that unforgiveness does not
become a walk between us and God and hinder our prayers. Remember, we do not
have time to waste, there is a lot of praying that needs to be done and also
remember that your joy is your own and your sorrow is also your own. No one
else will share those feelings with you.
Prayerful Thought: Lord God in Heaven please deliver us from
the spirit of unforgiveness and restore us with a spirit to forgiveness.
Unforgiveness is a spirit from the devil which hinders our progress in life. By
ignorance many of us boast of being unforgiving.