What does the Bible say about forgiveness?

A Weekend Read:

Forgiveness!

Several years ago when I was very active in a little church I often took the role of being a listener to those who needed one.

I vividly remember a single, mature lady who started attending and  as I got to know her, I realized she appeared to be bitter toward some of her family members. She was a fairly new grandmother whose daughter often attended services with her bringing her baby as well. It was not difficult to detect a spirit of dissension in their relationship. This bothered me because I had been in that predicament several years prior with my own daughter. It was a nasty experience for her and me until we mended our fences. Then, thank God, our relationship grew into a wonderful friendship.

Now, I thought, perhaps I could offer some council to help mend this relational struggle as well. As I talked with her, I discovered she was angry about something that had festered in her mind to become a mountain.

 Apparently her daughter’s in-laws required the new grandchild to be baptized with water in their church and my friend thought it should only be a service of dedication in her church.  She was so distraught by this that she had actually threatened not to be a part of her daughter’s or her grand daughter’s life. I listened and gave sympathy to her concerns but I could not agree with her convictions.  I thought, “how trivial” and “why would anyone jeopardize the privilege of a loving relationship with a daughter and a grandchild by not accepting a differing opinion on such a thing as this?”  

To me it did not seem terribly important because ultimately, it would have no bearing on the baby’s spiritual life but she could not let it go.  We talked many hours about the dilemma without resolve.  I encouraged her to pray about it and seek God’s council and she said she would but her spirit seemed to be rigid. 

Soon after that she stopped speaking to me and finally started attending another church.  I felt responsible for her hurt and yet I could not agree with her. I heard that she did not attend her little grand child’s baptismal service and her daughter became distant to the extent that they spent no time together as mother and daughter or grandmother and grandchild. I have thought about this experience many times and I think I learned a valuable lesson about forgiveness. 

Jesus was a forgiver and always forgave when asked to do so. His response was always, to forgive, go in peace, and sin no more.  There were no issues that he did not speak to or ill feelings that he harboured.  Never once is it written where he held a grudge against someone. We are aware of the wondrous work of the Holy Spirit when we come for forgiveness to Jesus and when we ask, we find, He gives us the ability to truly forgive others and it seems to come from deep within but we know it comes from God. The result is a feeling that covers us in a balm of healing and newness. 

Jesus says we are to forgive seventy times seven, the same person, if they keep asking.  It is indeed blessed to forgive and it is blessed, as well, to ask forgiveness of someone else.  It is usually a two way street and we are often expected to make the first move!

The story that Jesus tells about the unforgiving man in Matthew 18, 23-35.

“For this reason, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him.  In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars.  He  could not pay, so the king ordered that he, his wife, his children, and everything he had be  sold to pay the debt.  But the man fell down before the king and begged him, ‘Oh, sir, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.’  Then the king was filled with pity for him, and released him and forgave his debt.

But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars.  He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment.  His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. “Be patient and I will pay,’ he pleaded.  But his creditor wouldn’t wait.  He had the man arrested and jailed until the debt could be paid in full.  “When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset.  They went to the king and told him what had happened.  Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant!  I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me.  Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ Then the angry king sent the man to prison until he had paid every penny.

That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters in your heart.”

(New Living Version)

Forgiving certainly seems like the best alternative, doesn’t it?