MORE ON FORGIVENESS
The other day I heard some very insightful words about
forgiveness and holding grudges. For many of us, it may be time to take another
look at our hearts and see if there are any people we still have not truly
forgiven. How do you know? Ask yourself about who pops up in your mind. How
often do you think about that person? How recent? What’s your first thought about
them? That will tell you a lot about what you really feel.
Most likely, the people who hurt us have forgotten about
it. But the devil uses unforgiveness to
torment us! In Matthew 18, Jesus speaks an important parable to his disciples:
“Then his lord, after that he
had called him, said unto him, ‘O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that
debt, because thou desiredst me: shouldest not thou also have had compassion on
thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?’
“And his lord was wroth, and
delivered him 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” (Matt. 18: 32-35).
God promises that we don’t have to be concerned about
people who wronged us getting what they deserve. Consequently, if we are still
holding grudges against people who wronged us, then it's us who are hurting,
not them. We don’t need nor want them occupying even one little part of our
brains.
The only way to get rid of a negative person’s vibe in
our brains is to forgive them. They did what they did, and that isn’t going to
change.
The only change will be in how we respond. And for me,
that has been the hard part.
I would say, “I forgive them.” I give them to God, but
later on, when I asked myself the questions above, I found that I was still
holding a grudge. Then recently the Lord opened a new revelation to my heart. He first reminded me that when Jesus hung on
the cross, he said: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they
do” (Luke 23:34).
Then the Lord showed me that a big part of what they did
was not only sin against Jesus, but brought more sin upon themselves if they
didn’t repent. They opened the door for devils of all sorts to enter them and bring
hurt upon themselves, the people around them, their children, and their whole
bloodline!
So, as Jesus did, we follow in his steps: we forgive because,
by sinning against us, they have brought evil upon themselves and their
bloodline, and they need Jesus. So we pray for their salvation and restoration
to the Lord, whichever is necessary for them to get right.
This is a worthy challenge for us, but we can do it, and we
must do it for our own wholeness and for theirs.
When his disciples asked Jesus how they were to pray, He
said: “And when ye stand praying, forgive” (Mark 11:25). And in Matthew
6:15, He said: “But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither
will your Father forgive your trespasses.” We know we do wrong
things, and we want God to forgive us: we get mad, we say mean things, and
sometimes we do wrong things that we don’t even know are wrong until later,
when we find out. We want forgiveness, and Jesus says we don’t get it unless we
forgive too.
The more intimately we get to know the Lord Jesus, the
more we can operate as his followers, his disciples. Disciples are disciplined
ones. The Lord strengthens us and doesn’t ask anything of us that we can’t do. Forgiving
is one of those things the Lord requires.
Jesus says in John 14:15: “If ye love me, keep
my commandments.”
We see a prophecy of the coming of Jesus in Isaiah 61,
where it says of Jesus:
“The Spirit of the
Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me
to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.
“To give unto them beauty for
ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of
heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of
the Lord, that he might be glorified” (Isaiah 61: 1,3)
When we are obedient to what the Lord has asked of us, he
takes our grudges and miraculously changes them out and replaces them with
love. Our God is a God of miracles. That’s part of the mystery and
miracle of the Christ in us. We live for our God, and we are blessed with the
privilege to glorify the one true God of heaven, our Jehovah, our Creator, with
our actions. Forgiveness is a gift from God to us and a gift we are to pass on
to others, for the glory of God to spread in the earth.
Love, Carolyn
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