Forgiveness part 2 (our forgiveness of others)

Principle 6: Evaluate all my relationships. Offer forgiveness to those who have hurt me and make amends for harm I’ve done to others, except when to do so would harm them or others.  “Blessed are the merciful…Blessed are the peacemakers.” (Mt 5:7, 9)

Step 8: We made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.  “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” (Luke 6:31)

Last week we talked about God’s forgiveness of us; that it is only possible becuase Jesus Christ died to pay for our sin.  We talked about the woman caught in adultery in John 8; she was caught in the act, dragged through the streets, the penalty death.  Yet Jesus did not condemn her.  Instead He told her to “go and sin no more.”  Jesus told her only way she could go and sin no more was to “follow Me.”  Forgiveness and “going and sinning no more” go together…all connected by “following Jesus.”  If you want to have victory, and stop the resentments and addictions, then follow Jesus.  When you believe and confess Jesus is God the Son, the Christ, and you repent of your sin, He forgives you.  And that is the 1^st reason you should forgive others!

Tonight we’re talking about our forgiveness of others.  So here is the second reason to forgive: not doing so hurts you.  “Forgiveness doesn’t excuse their actions, it keeps their actions from destroying your heart” - unknown source.  We tend to just think about what our forgiveness means to someone else who is truly seeking it, and it does mean much to them if they are sincere in asking, and us in giving.  But we tend to think little about what our forgiveness of others means to us; it means a release of the hurt, frustration, resentment, and the burden of stored-up anger which the enemy will use against us.  For you: forgiving others removes an emotional, physical, and psychological tool of the devil.  Thus, forgiveness doesn’t excuse their actions, it keeps the devil from using their actions to destroy your heart.” 

There are also deep spiritual implications of your forgiveness of others which brings us to the Third reason to forgive: God tells you to.     “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14-15).  How can you accept God’s forgiveness of the sin debt you cannot pay and then refuse to forgive someone else’s sin against you?  How often do you need God to forgive you?  Once, or every time?  How often does He expect you to forgive those who sin against you?  Once, or every time?

Forgive every time.