Tuesday, March 24, 2009

THE CAPACITY TO FORGIVE

Grace
Having the ability to forgive or the willingness to forgive requires sacrifice of one’s self. For us to forgive those who wrong us even when we think we are right requires us to sacrifice our egos and our own righteousness in order to have peace and go on. If we insist on holding on to our own rightness, we will find ourselves standing alone-cast away. Having the capacity or physical/mental ability to forgive takes more than what we all are born with.
Lets look at the grace of God towards men. In Rom. 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. This is a God that still loved us even when we did not love him or his son. His own creation does not want to acknowledge him, (taking prayer out of schools and the ten commandments out of court houses, and wanting to remove ” In God We Trust” from our currency). We don’t want to remind ourselves of what we are and what we are not. His own creation does not accept him. His own creation rejects him. How you say? In our day to day walk in this life that he gave us, we don’t give him thanks for it; 1 Thessalonians 5:18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. We don’t accept what he has done for us on the cross through his son Jesus - if we did, we would not go around walking in condemnation (not forgiving ourselves for what we have done); Rom. 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after flesh, but after the spirit. This means that we walk after Christ, accept his sacrifice on the cross as payment for all that we have done and will do. That is the spiritual walk. Walking after the flesh is not accepting the payment for your sins and thinking in our own minds that we cannot be forgiven. 2 Cor. 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. When we accept Jesus as our savior, the one who paid the price on the cross for our sins, we are like a new creation born all over again. A new start if you will.
We reject the idea of a higher power and attribute our success to our own strength and knowledge. With this in mind, God could easily destroy what he have created and have no more dealings with man. But, he didn’t. He continues to strive with his creation and continue to have patients and grace. Why? Why does a God that is so powerful continue to strive with creatures that became so fallible because of our own disobedience?
To answer this question, we must understand who we are and why we were made. God made man simply for his pleasure; to have a being to commune with. (The bible talks about how God walk in the garden with Adam daily just to talk with him.) He made man to have a being that would appreciate who he is and what he is able to do; to “show off” his powers; Someone to know their place in divine order and give reverence where it is due willingly; Someone that wants to love him for who he is – for what he is capable of doing. He wants someone to show his love to. That is me and you. This is the God I serve.
Looking at what men have done and continue to do towards God, to his Son and to one another, and him not destroying us all at the wink of an eye or with just the blow of his breath – shows us his infinite and confounding grace and mercy.
See this grace and mercy by him giving his son to pay for what we have done and will continue to do is a humbling and mind blowing thing. So why can’t we forgive those around us who do us wrong? Why can’t we forgive those who “step on our toes” or “stab us in the back”. We are so petty with our ways. The reason why we cannot forgive or will not forgive is because we believe that we have our own righteousness. We think what we do is right. There is only one way and that is Gods way. There is no limit to forgiveness. Peter questioned God about how many times should he forgive his brother that sin against him or did him wrong; shall he forgive seven times. Jesus replies not till seven times but seventy times seven (Mat. 18:21&22). Jesus was simply saying that there is no limit to forgiveness if you have the heart of God and walking in his ways. Just as he forgave us continually, so shall we forgive others. Jesus spoke a parable in Luke 16:1-8 about an unjust Steward how he own a dept to his master that he could not pay so he went out to collect from those who were under him. He asks them what they owe and told them to write down less of what they owed and then pay him. By him doing this, his master forgave his depts.
Having the ability to forgive is a rare jewel and one worth finding. It will give you the freedom to live life without limits. Also the ability to accept forgiveness is jewel as well. Start today right now and release those that have done you wrong and accept the forgiveness of others. Accept the forgiveness of Jesus when he died on the cross for us all. When you do, you will be able to live a life without boundaries.