...and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. Matthew 6:12
For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Matthew 6:14-15
Unwarranted and undeserved forgiveness is what makes the Good News of the Gospel so good! Jesus Christ came to dwell among us so that He could reconcile the created with the Creator. As Paul says, “while we were still sinners, He died for us” (Romans 5:8). Before we repented and asked for His forgiveness, He decided to choose a path that would allow peace and unity in the relationship. He forgave us even before we asked Him to.
This is the starting point of forgiveness. As a Christ follower, I am commanded to mimic the actions and attitudes of Christ. He forgave me and now I must forgive others. Forgiveness has to be a choice. A decision based on God’s Word and not the words of our own hearts. It will require a continual reliance on God’s Spirit to empower us and provide us with the ability and desire to forgive. This is where our hearts are changed and our perspective is realigned.
We forgive because He forgave us. But what about the times when we are the one seeking forgiveness instead of the one giving it?
Sometimes we are the forgiver and sometimes we are the one who needs to seek forgiveness.
Recently I was studying the book of 1 Peter. In the second and third chapters of the book, Peter expounds upon the ways we are to submit to those in authority, our spouses and one another. Peter’s teachings on submission are hard to understand if we read the words and try to comply based on our own human understanding and character.
Reading the words in these chapters, my mind was ravaged by many unholy thoughts: How is it possible to submit to unjust authorities? No matter how corrupt I think the government is, am I supposed to yield to its authority? So am I supposed to be quiet and demure, allowing my spouse, my boss, my government to rule over me? Am I called to be a doormat and let everyone walk all over me? I am a strong, independent woman, why should I submit to anyone else?
Then as I continued to study and read through the passages, I noticed that all throughout his teachings on submission, he continually points back to Christ. Christ’s words, actions and attitudes as He went through the unjust trials, the brutal scourging and beatings, the public ridicule and finally the torturous death of crucifixion. Never once demanding His rights. Never once flipping the script to point out all the wrongs of His accusers. Christ submitted not because the people deserved His submission but because God did. God called Him for this purpose and Jesus was obedient to God’s Will.
As I studied and pondered on these passages, the Holy Spirit began to convict me. He illuminated a deep root of bitterness and anger within my soul. I had allowed my own rights, desires and personal preferences to direct my life. I had failed to Biblically submit. Outwardly, I appeared to be a submissive and cooperative citizen, wife, daughter, church member, employee and friend. But inwardly my instincts and emotions railed against many in authority over me. Somehow my opinions on life became the “correct” way. I wanted people to see things my way and act accordingly.
Wait, I thought this blog post was about forgiveness and now we are focusing on submission. Exactly what I thought when God connected these two topics in my heart.
I honestly had not realized how each time I had un-willingly submitted to others that I had been adding fuel to a fire that was burning deep within my soul. Each incidence increased my resentment which then grew into bitterness. Left on its own, that bitterness would grow towards hatred and the need for revenge.
Often times, when the topic of forgiveness is discussed, the focus is on grievous physical and emotional wrongs perpetrated against someone. It can be hard to recognize the impact of the smaller offenses which at times can be victimless. Unfortunately, when we fail to acknowledge and address these smaller wounds and hurts, they can be just as incendiary to our hearts. No one was outwardly harmed by the angst that was growing in my heart...except me. The hardness that was developing inside my soul was interfering with my connection to Christ because I was in disobedience to Him. I was relying on my own goodness and my perceived righteousness to interpret others actions and direct my actions toward them. As Peter summed up his thoughts, I realized how I had broken unity with God and with others.
“Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. 1 Peter 3:8-9. Then in 4:8 he adds, “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.” Paul uses similar thoughts on forgiveness. “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” (Eph 4:32).
Peter was there as Jesus spoke the Sermon on the Mount. He was also the recipient of Jesus’s grace filled forgiveness on the shore at the Sea of Galilee. He whole heartedly knew what it meant to fail and how it felt to be forgiven. Paul had a miraculous encounter on the road to Damascus that forever changed him. He too receive Jesus’ amazing grace and was freely forgiven for all the wrong he had done. Paul had hurt many while living in his own righteousness. But once he encountered the magnificent, unimaginable and pure forgiveness in Christ, he realized true righteousness. He no longer desired that life go according to his plan. He submitted himself to Christ.
Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount turned his listeners’ worlds upside down. The religious leaders had taught a superficial, external adherence to the law. Jesus took the law and rightly interpreted more deeply as an attitude of the heart. In other words, sin doesn’t require an outward action to be sin. Our thoughts and attitudes are also held accountable.
The Kingdom of God that Jesus came to bring doesn’t work the way of this world. He asks us to lay down our own desires. He asks us to give up our “rights”. He commands us to treat other as He treats each of us. We are to seek peace and unity. To think of others more than ourselves and to have humility in our thinking and our actions. Instead of assuming wrong motives when a person offends you, have sympathy and be tender hearted toward them.
Another beautiful aspect of the Gospel is that obedience often carries the additional benefit of freedom. When much of our thoughts are tied up by the constant replaying and living in the past, we forsake life in the present. The past overshadows us with hurts or with shame and blinds us to the hope and peace in our present. We live as victims of the past and are imprisoned by our memories. Forgiveness opens up the door and shines a light into the past. Light overshadows the darkness (John 1:5) and allows healing to enter. As we heal, we are free to pass along the love of God to others.