Forgiveness: Why we forgive

This message is dedicated to the:-

Christian Reader: on the topic of why we need to forgive people and how to seek forgiveness from God
Non-Christian Reader: on the topic of why you need Jesus to be your Lord and Saviour, as He is the only way to which your sins may be forgiven by God

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, do any of you hold a grudge against someone currently or have for a prolonged period of time? For me, fortunately...I do not hold a grudge against anyone, and I pray that it stays this way for the remainder of my life. Yes, people have sinned against me in the past, and I have to others too.

You might say, it is hard to forgive people sometimes. Of course that is so, but think about it, if you keep such a grudge in your heart, will this ultimately achieve anything? Will you get back what you have lost? Or will you go on a warpath seeking revenge?

• Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." (Romans 12:19-21)

From this passage above, we can clearly see that we are told NOT to take revenge but instead let the Lord avenge if they do not repent. Rather, we should show them compassion and love and hence by doing so we may bring about their repentance. This is what we Christians have been commanded to do.

So how would we stop this hatred from building up inside our hearts from the people sinning against us? We MUST forgive out of love, and also, because the Lord has commanded us Christians so even if it is hard to do. This is the high standard we Christians are called to. Once again, you might say to me..EASIER SAID THEN DONE...well some cases truly are hard...which is why we need Jesus to help us to forgive these people that have committed such acts against us. This also applies to us when we hurt people! We need forgiveness from both man and God so that hatred will not stay in our hearts.

Let me talk more about forgiveness...there is two types of forgiveness:- 1) To be forgiven by your neighbour (ie. our fellow human beings) 2) To be forgiven by the Father.

• Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times." (Matthew 18:21-22)

My friend, what Jesus means is that no matter how many times someone sins against you, whether intentionally or unintentionally, we are to forgive them. If this person was a non-Christian that has sinned against you, here are two reasons why we should not keep a grudge against them but instead to rebuke and forgive them; 1) We ourselves have sinned. The vengeance will be our Father's on the day of judgment if they do not repent and seek Him and 2) these people do not know the Way and the Truth; they have their own personal standards and morals which means that they are not in sync with the commands and teachings from our Lord Jesus through the Word. If it was a Christian that has sinned against you, they themselves MUST earnestly repent and seek reconciliation with you and the Father...and once again, we are to forgive them too.

Let's have a look at another verse in the bible:-

• "If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, 'I repent,' forgive him." (Luke 17:3-4).

If your brother sins against you, rebuke him out of love and if he says 'I repent', forgive him. For those that do not understand what is meant when it is stated 'I repent', I shall happily explain it to you. To repent DOES NOT imply that all you have to do is say those two words and you will be forgiven, by both your neighbour let alone by God. To say that you repent involves earnest repentance, change and seeking God and His righteousness and goodness and to NOT commit such a sin again. If you think that you can commit the sin again willingly and 'earnestly repent' thinking that God will forgive you just like that, think again! Because if you look at the situation closely...are you earnestly repenting? Do you really have God's love in your heart? Do you REALLY HATE and DESPISE the sinful act that you have committed? If so, then you certainly do not want to commit such an act again, definitely not intentionally! Correct yah? lolz.

• "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you." (Ephesians 4:32)

God has set a perfect example of love and compassion to us by sending His son Jesus Christ to bear the sins of ALL humanity. As can be seen from this verse, we ourselves must follow in Christ's example and forgive one another.

• And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins. (Mark 11:25)

This verse clearly explains that we must forgive others of their sins if they have sinned against us, whether they are our friend or not SO that our Father in heaven will forgive our sins. Now you might question me, why must 'I' forgive someone of their sins, maybe someone who done such a terrible sin, when I have not committed such a sin? But my friend, haven't all of us sinned against someone. If I as a Christian said to someone else, "You don't deserve to be forgiven because your sin was greater than mine!" or something along those lines that implies that I am a better Christian than you, I am wrong because the bible has already spoken clearly about this. Fact is, a sin is a sin and all sins NEED to be forgiven and atoned for, both big and small. Only our Lord Jesus has the authority to forgive sins because he paid for our sins on the cross. His blood shed on the cross has covered our iniquities, and when God looks upon us, we are sinners but made righteous only by the blood of Jesus and how Jesus will confess us to God the Father and by this token, God can accept us. Hence my friends, do you now see why that we must confess and repent of sins to Lord Jesus, and embrace him as Saviour and Lord?

Jesus has also taught us how to pray in Matthew Chapter 6. In the Lord's Prayer, Jesus states "Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors" (Matthew 6:12). From this, we can see, this ties in with the verse in Mark 11:25 explained above. We must forgive those that have sinned against us so our Father in Heaven will forgive us also.

Now regarding forgiveness from the Father, here is a beautiful passage in the bible about sinning and the atonement of sins in relation to the Father:-

• "This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives." (1 John 1:5-10)

One thing I would like to emphasise on is the common misconception on confessing our sins. Some people unfortunately just selectively read this passage and may assume that by just confessing that they have sinned to God, this alone will allow their sins to be forgiven. This my friend, is NOT the case! For example, if I was part of a mafia syndicate and my job was to gun down people, would I be forgiven if I gunned someone down, then confess my sins to God for forgiveness, and then go back out there and gun down a few more lives? Yes, I have confessed my sins you may say...but read the verse straight underneath, which was a direct continuation from that chapter...

• "My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense - Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did." (1 John 2:1-6)

As can be seen from this passage, once again, it is emphasised that OUR SINS CAN ONLY FORGIVEN THROUGH JESUS CHRIST, the Righteous One. To be forgiven through Jesus Christ, we MUST KNOW HIM. And as we read on, it states, "The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him." Well...all I can say to you my friend is...do YOU know Jesus Christ? This verse speaks for itself...to be forgiven by God and have our sins atoned for by Jesus Christ, we MUST also obey the commands of Jesus Christ. Forgiveness and atonement of sin through Jesus Christ comes through the confession of sins, EARNESTLY repenting and at the same time we must make sure that we keep the commands of Jesus. Where do you find Jesus' commands? In the bible.

So... are you a Christian? Have you believed on Jesus for forgiveness of sins? And thereafter, with His help will you strive in obedience to His commands? And if you are a Christian, bear in mind how you are commanded to forgive just as you have been forgiven by our Lord Jesus Christ.

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"Blessed are they whose trangressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him." (Romans 4:7-8)