The Gift of Forgiveness

I pondered about what to blog about this week, and this topic came to me. “The Gift of Forgiveness”. As all of my topics are personal for me, this one is tough because I have struggled in this area. Not for reason some may think, but like I state on the about page of this blog, “Hear it from me”

Forgiveness is a word that holds the power to so many great things for us, as you will see presented in this week’s blog. I truly understand now, that the price has already been paid by Christ so that we can all walk in the freedom of forgiveness, as it’s one of God’s greatest gifts to all of man-kind.

With that being said, hopefully we all realize that are in need of forgiveness on a daily basis. Whether it stems from sins of commission or omission. Our daily prayer should include us asking God to forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors. What is meant by Christ when he left this on record as to how we should pray? It’s a prayer of condition. We petition God for his forgiveness as we acknowledge that we will be like him and extend to others what we ourselves are in need of, otherwise we forfeit our own request.

Let’s start with the definition of forgiveness. It’s the act of giving up of resentment or claim to requital (something given in return, compensation, or retaliation) on account of an offense. Forgiveness is conditioned on repentance and the willingness to make reparation or atonement and restoration.

When we think of the word forgiveness. Who do you know that can embody this word so great? None other than Christ himself. Christ was our atonement. He bore the sins of all men on his shoulders to restore and redeem us back into relationship with God the Father. Even as they crucified him, he asked the Father to forgive them for they know not what they do. What a great example left on record for us to follow after and to imitate.

Christ has to be the center of true forgiveness. As we think about what Christ did for us, it should in turn motivate us and cause us to reflect on our own shortcomings and faults that we needed redeeming from. He didn’t think about the unfair treatment he received. The bible said when he was reviled, he reviled not again. He didn’t retaliate, hold grudges, and cut man off. Instead he freely gave his life for all of us and reconciled us back into relationship with the Father.

I grew up in the church and accepted Christ as my Lord and Saviour at thirteen years old. I’ve had times when I stumbled and fell, but thank God he never let go of my hand and I never let go of his. I had to learn early on in life that being a Christian doesn’t exempt you from being hurt by people and hurting people knowingly or unknowingly. As we navigate through this life, we are growing and learning as we go.

Knowing what I know now, I realized that I had not been walking in the freedom of true forgiveness. It’s one thing to say with your lips you forgive a person and it’s a totally different thing to walk in true freedom in your heart. Forgiveness, truly is for you. Some people may never admit to offending you, simply because we are all different, therefore we decide what we deem to be offensive or non-offensive. If the offending party does not deem their behavior offensive, they in turn may not feel or be apologetic about their actions. God had to open up my understanding to this.

The bible states vengeance is mine saith the Lord. This simply lets us know that if vengeance is God, we may not take it. We step into the throne of God if we do, and take his work out of his hand. Secondly, we need not do it, for God will avenge us. God is the sovereign king, the righteous judge, and to him it belongs to administer justice.

True forgiveness calls for you to give up your rights or claims to be bitter about someone else’s behavior. You give up the thought of retaliation. While God does not expect or require us to tolerate disrespect or misbehavior. He does require us to respond to it in a Godly manner. When I begin to see the role, forgiveness came to play for all of us, it changed my understanding as to why we truly pray forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. I think sometimes we tend to see forgiveness as a one-way street when in actuality it’s a two-way street. Both must be done to achieve the results God intended.

You can’t control how someone else views or treats you. But you can control how you view and treat them. You can choose to freely forgive as you are forgiven by God. That’s the freedom you give to yourself.

Perhaps, you need to forgive yourself for something. Don't allow guilt to hinder you from moving ahead. I heard a minister say the guilt that Joseph’s brothers had was not from the way Joseph saw them for what they did to him, but how they saw themselves.

If you’re reading this, and you found yourself, take some time over a cup of tea and give yourself the wonderful gift of forgiveness when you release that person(s) you’ve been holding hostage for their actions. Remember to be forgiven, you have to forgive.

Until next time, be good to yourselves