EPHESIANS 4:32 – Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”
THEME OF THE DAY: FORGIVENESS: WHAT IT ISN’T, WHAT IT IS. So, how would you describe forgiveness to someone? Our answer reveals our understanding of God’s forgiveness.
As we seek to grasp the forgiveness mentioned in today’s scripture, let’s begin with what forgiveness is not. It is not responding to someone who has sinned against us and the individual says, “I am sorry”, and we respond, “I forgive you.” Nowhere do we find that in scripture. To say “I am sorry” sounds good, but it doesn’t contain what is necessary for forgiveness – repentance and confession which are always the grounds for exercising forgiveness. Another thing forgiveness is not is a feeling or emotion. Those are too fickle. Forgiveness is more substantial.
Now what is forgiveness? Forgiveness is a conscious choice to not hold against or remember sin from others that has been confessed and forsaken. It is exercising the example of God’s forgiveness toward us. What does He do? Upon confession and repentance in the offending person, God chooses not to hold the sin against him or her and not bring it back to His remembrance – And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying, “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,” then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” (Hebrews 10:15-17).
A classic illustration of forgiveness was discovered from the Moravians. When the Moravian missionaries first went to the Eskimos, they could not find a word in their language for forgiveness, so they had to compound one. This turned out to be: Issumagijoujungnainermik. It is a formidable-looking assembly of letters, but an expression that has a beautiful connotation for those who understand it. It means: “Not-being-able-to-think-about-it-anymore.”
When it comes to forgiveness of sin, it involves the will both in granting forgiveness and ensuring the sin forgiven is never brought up again. In the course of us granting someone forgiveness, we are saying to them, “I promise not to remember this again.” If we bring sin forgiven up again, then we haven’t truly forgiven. And remember, like in all things, God is our example. It was His kindness and tenderheartedness that led Him to provide Christ so that He might forgive us. So, let’s let the kindness and tenderheartedness that God develops in us by His Spirit so move us to forgive all sin, as He does us.
PRAYER: “Father, help me to forgive others as You forgive me.”
QUOTE: “Forgiveness isn’t a feeling but a choice that is not revoked.”
In the affection of Christ Jesus,
Pastor Jim