Love Forgives

 

Many years ago, I was given the task of teaching a seminar on forgiveness. Research and prayer revealed misconceptions, such as “forgive and forget” and “I’ll forgive when they repent.” However, does God ever forget anything in the sense that it is totally gone from His mind? Hardly. Nor did He wait for us to change our ways before He sent Jesus? No, Jesus died for us while we were still sinners. (Romans 5:8)

The bottom line for my presentation was that to forgive means to not hold the sin of others against them. Yes, it will come to mind. Yes, the pain may persist or pop up at times, but forgiveness refuses to be angry or resentful toward the person that hurt me. Besides, am I totally innocent of ever doing harm to someone else? Not at all.

MacArthur’s devotional says, “If you love someone, you won’t keep a record of their offenses.” That means no holding of grudges and being firmly determined that when the offense comes to mind, thinking I have forgiven that offense just as Jesus has forgiven my sins. It also means intercession for that other person, praying that they experience God’s grace in their lives.

One Bible translation says that love “does not take into account a wrong suffered.” (1 Corinthians 13:5) This is an accounting term and illustrates that love is like a bookkeeper’s refusal to enter a transaction into his ledger. Love does not keep a record or hold others accountable for their sins against me. This is what Jesus does:

Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin. (Romans 4:8)

In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them . . . (2 Corinthians 5:19)

At the end of this last verse, it says God entrusts to me the message of reconciliation. He charges me to tell others about His forgiveness — and how can I do it if I don’t know it for myself and am not saved, or if I have been forgiven but refuse to forgive others? Jesus even put forgiveness into His teaching on prayer:

Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors . . . . 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 6:12–15)

The NT says many times that I must be like Jesus and do what God did through Him (and still does): “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32)

PRAY: Jesus, I’m so grateful that You “live forever to intercede for me” because it seems at times that I will forever need it. Yet what hope and wonder to think of living with You in eternity without sin. As I dance around Your throne in the joy of banished sin, I may also chuckle at another reason You have made forgiveness easier for me — holding a grudge takes a lot of energy and I’ve not been gifted with enough stamina to stay angry for very long! This makes me smile too. Thank you. And lest anyone think forgiving others is easy, I can testify to experiencing deep wounds and the struggle to finally forgive, to no longer hold any anger against those who hurt me, even though in some situations repentance and apologies never happened. It helps to realize that You forgive for Your own name’s sake and that I need to do the same, that I might be a forgiving person like You, not  vindictive and wanting to get even. Your grace is sufficient and I am so glad that You remind me often of Your great forgiveness for my sins too.

PONDER: Matthew 18:21–35 again and make sure I am obedient to what Jesus taught in this parable!