May 7, 2023
The Forgiving Heart
General James Olglethorpe said to John Wesley: “I never forgive.”
To which Wesley replied: “Then sir, I hope you never sin.”
The basis of offering forgiveness is the humble acknowledgment that we have been graciously forgiven by God.
As Jesus hung dying on the cross, He said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”
It always seemed to me that those who unjustly accused and murdered Christ knew what they were doing! Apparently not, because Jesus said otherwise. And He should know.
The opposite of forgiveness usually is usually bitterness.(see Hebrews 12:15)
God deliver us from that...I once heard it described in this way:
A man named Tom was deeply annoyed with his neighbour James on the river where they lived. He had called him many times about the problem behaviour: James kept throwing garbage and logs over the fence to Tom’s property. Finally, Tom rented a barge and loaded it with all of the offending debris.
He paddled the full barge over to the river in front of James’s property. Tom stood amidst the debris, yelling at the top of his lungs about his complaint: “You scumbag! This is all of your garbage.”
Even as Tom railed on and on, he and the barge sank under the weight of the junk.
Carrying the “junk” of bitterness will, in one way or another, kill us.
Please note that this topic is deep and wide and I am not attempting to treat all aspects of it in this blog post. There are issues of boundaries, consequences, God’s sovereignty, emotional healing etc. These are for you to explore as needed in your own lives. (Ephesians 1:7; Ephesians 4:32; Matthew 18: 21-35; Mark 11:25,26 are references among many that could be of help.)
The good news of forgiveness will lead us to next week’s topic: The Rejoicing Heart.
