Forgiveness is one of the most difficult topics to address with people. The act of forgiving in itself can be extremely difficult for people.
We can rest assured that we find many examples of forgiveness in God's word. The truth and power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a story of forgiveness for all people. Here is one verse that speaks of this forgiveness.
Colossians 1:13-14-For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
We can probably all agree that we have been hurt in some of the ways that I will mention: being lied to, made fun of, betrayed, abused emotionally or physically, cheated, or cheated on by a spouse, boyfiend or girlfriend, fired, etc. These acts can lead us to believe or feel that we have the right not to forgive. We can become prideful in our attempt to justify our reasons for not forgiving someone because we feel that we have been hurt and sinned against.
This verse sums it up for us. In Gods eyes, we have no choice but to forgive. In the end, we have to ask ourselves if we are going to let unforgiveness run our lives here on earth and possibly cost us rewards we would receive when we get to heaven.
Matthew 6:14-15-For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
We have to remember no matter how much someone has hurt us or sinned against us we must forgive. This takes a person who can humble his or herself and admit that they are not perfect themselves. It does not matter what has been done to us. Refer to the verse below:
1 John 1:9-But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.
I cannot imagine or fathom to know what it is like to lose a child or to have been abused, etc. But there have been some horrible things that have happened to me in my life and I can honestly say until I was able to forgive the person completely only at that time did I feel truly set free with a peace and happiness that God gave me. It was as if a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders. Then I was able to truly move on with my life with no hesitations or doubts.
A big part of forgiveness is learning not to keep rehashing or replaying situations with people or even in your own mind. I know from experience it is difficult to truly forgive and move on if we are constantly replaying the situations in our mind and with other people. I am not saying there will not be times and certain things that may spark a memory or a thought, but I find it best to truly keep the negative events of the past in the past where they belong. The spirit reminds me of a verse that speaks volumes of this.
Psalm 103:12- As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. Let us take this a step further and refer to Hebrews 10:17-Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.
If our Lord and Savior can take all of our sins against him and remove them and never bring them up again, then we as humans should be able to do the same when people have hurt us.
I would like to look at a powerful story of forgiveness from the scriptures. Joseph was Jacob and Rachel’s first son who came into the scene in Genesis 30. As Joseph was growing up it became apparent that his father Jacob favored him. Joseph was a man who followed God. God started to reveal to him in his dreams that one day he would be great in the land of Egypt and that his brothers would bow to him. It was also revealed to him that the land would prosper for a time but then a great famine would soon follow. During the times of increase, Joseph worked hard to store up the bountiful harvest to prepare for the famine to come. Unfortunately, his brothers did not see their brother Joseph as a mature and important man of Egypt. Instead they grew not only jealous of the favor Jacob showed to him, but also were fueled with jealousy over the dream that he would one day be a prominent leader. His brothers became so jealous that they were even plotting at one point to kill him. The events that followed from his brother’s jealousy led him to be sold into slavery. But that was not the end of this story. Joseph was given an elevated position by the Pharaoh in the land of Egypt. Once the great famine had hit Egypt, his brothers were filled with great remorse over what they had done to Joseph. Being the man of God Joseph was he forgave them. His years of persevering dependence on God brought about his elevated position. The end result was the salvation of his brothers and father and an entire country saved from starvation.
In closing, I cannot imagine what would have happened if Joseph did not forgive his brothers. The cost would have been loss of not only his family, but an entire nation.
I think we can see how important forgiveness is in this life. I pray that if anyone is reading this blog and is struggling with forgiving someone, that you would pray for God to grant you the peace and power to forgive. It may not be easy and it may require taking baby steps daily, but it is a start to a beautiful beginning of setting yourself free from the bondage of the anger and bitterness that unforgiveness can cause.
