by Rebekah M. from Virtuous Daughters, June 2015~Volume 15, Number 3 It’s been a rough morning. First, you wake up to the mixed noise of your two-year-old brother throwing a fit and your dog greeting his fellow canines through the fence (in other words, barking as loud as he can), causing you to develop a headache. Next, you walk downstairs to find your dad eating the last of the breakfast muffins you had been craving and your younger sister (who’s the same size as you) wearing your favorite shirt--which is now already a bit stained with orange juice, without asking. Finally, after much chaos, everyone piles into the car to head to church. Unfortunately, most of the ride is ruined by your two older siblings arguing about whose turn it was to change the baby’s diaper this morning. This duty actually never got done, explaining why the car smelled the way it did! Amidst these adverse circumstances, and before you move on with your day, you have one key choice to make. Either, to yell at everyone to be quiet, apologize, and get it together; or, choose the harder, yet life-giving path--to forgive. We find this exhortation in the book of Ephesians. “And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.”--Ephesians 4:32 Although short in length, this verse holds a lot of truth and contains one of the most important guidelines to our Christian walk--the beauty of forgiveness. Jesus used it, Peter sought to understand it, God imparted it, Paul taught it, and you and I are called to give it! In the coming paragraphs, we are going to dive a little bit deeper into this verse and see what God is trying to say to us about the quality of forgiveness.
To begin, in this verse we see that Jesus is teaching us to forgive each other “even as God” in His Son forgave us. It is not to be taken lightly. Because you have already been forgiven by God, it is a must to forgive others. Likewise, Colossians 3:13 says, “bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint; even as Christ Jesus forgave you, so you also must do.” Again, we must--not should--but must forgive one another as Christ forgave us. So the question arises: how can this practically be displayed in our day-to-day lives? Well, let’s take a look at the illustration Jesus gave us--The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant: “Then Peter came to Him and said, ‘Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payments be made. The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt. But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ And he would not, but went out and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servants saw what he had done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all the debt because you begged me, should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ And his master was angry, and delivered him to the tortures until he should pay all that was due him. So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.”--Matthew 18:21-35 Whenever I would read this parable, it always got to my heart. I was always burdened by the injustice and unfairness displayed in the servant who was forgiven much, but would not forgive his friend a mere “hundred denarii.” But when you really think about it, in all seriousness, you and I are like the servant who was forgiven “ten thousand talents” (aka our sin) by God Himself. But we have a choice, and this choice is crucial, for it could bring life or death to ourselves and to those around us. Are you going to choose to forgive your younger brother who gave you a migraine earlier because your heavenly Father has already forgiven you far more sins? Are you going to kindly receive the words of “I’m sorry,” from your younger sister? Are you going to choose to have a tenderhearted attitude toward your dad for eating your muffin? What about your older siblings’ argument that made you go crazy on the inside? Are you going to forgive and forget their conversation? God blots out our iniquities out of His memory, and so we should also erase the trespasses made against us out of our brain. Let us, as we learn forgiveness, become the “Forgiving Servant” rather than the “Unforgiving Servant.” Having the Right Attitude “...Forgiveness must flow from undgrudging love...” I read this in a Bible commentary, and it is so true! Not only are we to simply forgive our brother, but we are to do it with the right heart and a good attitude. Remember how Ephesians 4:32 started out? The words mentioned right before “forgiving” read “And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another...” And in Colossians 3, the words introducing the forgiving portion exhort, “...put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering, bearing with one another, and forgiving one another...”--Colossians 2:12b-13a So, the next time you forgive someone, do it in kindness and in all humility, remembering that you have also been freely forgiven. Don’t angrily yell the words, “I forgive you! Now please leave me alone!” And try not to half-heartedly say, “I guess I’ll forgive you this once.” No, no, no! But follow God’s example of being “ready to forgive” (Psalm 86:5), “abundant in mercy” (Psalm 86:5), and “of great kindness” (Joel 2:13). Of course, we cannot be perfect like God, but as we spend more time in His Word and study His truths, we can become more like Him. On Monday the 11th, I received my Virtuous Daughters magazine for May. I then read what the topics were going to be for the upcoming months. I wasn’t sure if God was calling me to write an article or not, and if so, I didn’t know which topic to pick. Then I remembered that earlier that day, the verse of the day that was sent to my email was Ephesians 4:32, which made a perfect theme for “One Another Exhortations.” Moreover, this concept of forgiveness is really crucial in my life right now as I feel as though God is teaching me to forgive on a deeper level. As I took a little closer look at this passage, God has revealed to me so much in just one verse! It is truly amazing how just a handful of words inspired by the Holy Spirit can have such a deeper meaning and be packed with a bunch of different insights God wants to teach His children. The fact that Jesus shed His blood especially for me and you so that we could be freely forgiven forever is absolutely amazing! In addition, it became more clear to me that forgiving as God did is essential to having your own requests for forgiving answered by the Father. On that note, Matthew 6:14-15 says, “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.” If you forgive, you will be forgiven! God forgives us our transgressions as we, daily, forgive those who have wronged us. We sin everyday, and thus we need forgiveness everyday. And if we need forgiveness everyday, we need to forgive everyday--or as Jesus put it, “up to seventy times seven,” in other words, limitless! Forgiveness is a necessity--both to give and to receive! So if we are to forgive as God forgave--not only in the amount of times, but in the way we do it--we should endeavor to forgive one another with a happy heart and a readiness to move forward. If Jesus can have a more than great attitude when He humbled Himself and endured the cross to forgive the sins of the world, then we can surely have a tender heart and a kindness in our tone when we say to another, “I forgive you.” My friends, we are in this together--keep striving to be more like our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! Because He Cares, Rebekah 1 Peter 5:7 Comments are closed.
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