Forgiveness

Over the past few weeks at our corps we have been looking at the good and beautiful community and what it means to live in community. We’ve studied the hopeful community, the serving community, Christ-centered community including personal holiness. And this week we studied about reconciliation and forgiveness in the community.

Jesus talked a lot about forgiveness. Clearly it was something with which many people have struggled – even the seasoned believer. Let’s look at what Jesus says about forgiveness and reconciliation:

Matthew 5:7 – Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Luke 6:27-28 – Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

Luke 6:12 – Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

Luke 15 – the parable of the lost son shows us the beautiful example of how the father forgives us. That’s how we should forgive.

Matthew 6:14-15 – “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Matthew 18:21-22 – Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.” 

Jesus goes on to tell the parable of the king who forgave his servant of an enormous debt. But the servant did not forgive someone in his life who owed him a fraction of what he owed the king. When the king found out, he reinstated the debt and put the man in prison until he could repay all of it.

Then Jesus reminds us in verse 35: “That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.”

Jesus was serious about forgiveness. There is no “grey area” when it comes to this. He set the ultimate example of forgiveness by dying for our sins before we ever knew we needed a savior:

Romans 5:8 – “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

We receive forgiveness for our sins the moment we ask God for it. But our human relationships may take more time and maybe some hard work, especially when you’ve been hurt. Sometimes your relationship is altered because of the hurt. But other times God calls us to forgive and offer friendship – to love our enemies.

That is hard. Our first instinct is to want revenge or to set up boundaries. I’ll forgive them but I don’t want to be hurt again so I’m not going to be in relationship with that person. And sometimes boundaries are a good thing.

But sometimes God calls us to love even that person and wants us to offer them complete reconciliation and restoration.

Paul writes about love over and over in all of his letters but he really describes it in his letter to the church at Corinth. In 1 Corinthians 12 Paul writes about spiritual gifts and then goes right into chapter 13 and describes how we are to love one another:

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. ⁸ Love never fails.

Love “keeps no record of wrongs.” That’s a hard one. How many times have I been hurt deeply and I say I’ve forgiven that person but I keep bringing it up? I’m not God – I don’t have a “sea of forgetfulness.” How do I forgive and forget?

Through prayer and complete surrender to the Holy Spirit. Sometimes it may take daily giving over to Him the memory and asking Him to cleanse it – to change it into something good.

In some cases God can use your situation to show the person who hurt you His agape love – a love with no strings attached. No prerequisites. Just pure, unconditional, relentless love.

Ephesians 4:32 – Be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another just as God in Christ forgave you, so you too must forgive one another.

So today, think about how the Father has forgiven you. And then ask Him how and who he wants you to forgive. Then allow the Holy Spirit to guide you in the healing process – leading you to complete reconciliation.

Heather Hanton
Media and Ministries Specialist
The Salvation Army Central Territory
Women’s Ministries Department