GOD’S HEART OF FORGIVENESS (2)

“So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from HIS HEART, does not FORGIVE his brother his trespasses” – Matthew 18:35

Believers are admonished to learn from and emulate GOD”S HEART of FORGIVENESS: “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from HIS HEART, does not FORGIVE his brother his trespasses” (Mt.18:35). It is of little or no profit to merely know that God has a Heart of Forgiveness if we do not follow His kind of heart. Learning to forgive is vital in walking with God.

Hurts and wounds will come: “It is impossible that no offenses should come” (Lk.17:1a). Yet, we cannot fully enjoy God’s forgiveness if we will not forgive. The born again believer is a New Creation in Christ, endowed with the divine nature to forgive like God does! Forgiveness is at the core of God’s Heart and a key aspect of the divine nature: “And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, FORGIVING one another, even as God in Christ FORGAVE you” (Eph.4:32). We must not live in unforgiveness, patterned after the world, where people hardly forgive but often seek revenge. God empowers and expects us to forgive. One cardinal distinction between the Christian and the unbeliever is that the Christian has the ability to forgive and release the offender.

“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” (Mt.6:14-15).

“FORGIVE, and you will be FORGIVEN. Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you” (Lk.6:37b-38). Here, our Lord Jesus was speaking primarily about Forgiveness, not about finances, to which we often apply that scripture!

Sometimes, even as Believers in Christ, we find it difficult to forgive, because we least expect that certain individuals would hurt us. The feeling is that if anybody would hurt us, it shouldn’t be a particular person. Best friends could become worst enemies. Even spouses can become sworn enemies. As new people in Christ, we must remember that God has forgiven us for many horrible sins!

To illustrate this, Jesus told the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant. He compared the Kingdom of God to a certain King who wanted to settle accounts with all his servants (vv.23-24). One servant owed him 10,000 talents. Being unable to pay, the King thought of selling him, his wife, children and all his property, but the servant begged for mercy (vv. 25-26). His master “was moved with compassion, released him, and FORGAVE him the debt” (v. 27). However, this same servant found a fellow servant who owed him just 100 pence and immediately hell broke loose. Despite his cry for mercy, the unforgiving servant threw his debtor into prison, till he settled all his debts (vv.28-30). When this was reported to the King, the unforgiving servant was handed over to “torturers” (v.34).

The first servant was forgiven a stupendous debt comparable to billions of Naira, but he refused to forgive the debt of few hundreds! Often, in referring to what others have done to us, we forget that we have also wronged God and man before. From God’s point of view, a Believer who cannot forgive treads on dangerous paths. God will forgive us of any sin that we repent of, but unforgiveness: “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, FORGIVE him, that yoru Father in heaven may also FORGIVE you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses” (Mk.11:25-26).

Unforgiveness is deadly if left unchecked in the heart! Often, because it is not seen physically, many Christians feel that they can get away with it. God will not hear the prayer of the unforgiving, and He will not prosper or bless one in whose life unforgiveness lingers!

God will be angry with someone who He forgave, but who would not forgive others! May we not be handed over to the tormentors!