Forgiveness

Okay so I was ready to post this like in October, but I never got to it...SO here...but I think it's even more pertinent now because God has shown me SO much about forgiveness and then even more so the HEALING that comes from forgiveness in the past week....

Forgiveness paves the way for healing. As the summer came to a close, the Lord totally rocked my world with a better understanding of His forgiveness and the implications for my life because of it. Wow. Forgiveness is such a beautiful thing! My mind has been blown and my understanding of what forgiveness is has been totally and completely changed. The Lord doesn't want me to forget this and have been reminding me about it this whole semester. He has been giving me opportunity after opportunity to learn forgiveness and extend His forgiveness to others and to myself. I was blessed to also give a share this fall at a retreat I went on with Campus Crusade. It was powerful to be able to remember the things that the Lord allowed me to go through to bless me with this understanding. Wow. Thank you Jesus. Unforgiveness is selfish. As a Christ follower there shouldn't be anyway that we can claim the forgiveness of our Savior Jesus and then selfishlessly deny it to others. I...we... very often turn any situation inward and made it all about me...us. When someone wrongs us, we AUTOMATICALLY think that they owe us something, or that they should feel guilty. We want them fully understand what they did and they make up for it in someway. We make the situation about us and how we can get something from it and how we can feel better. I don't know how many times I have gone through this cycle with people...but that's not at all true of Jesus. We have wronged Jesus more times than we could count, we have turned from him, chosen ourselves, denied His power, rejected His love. If the way we treat others when they have wronged us, was the way Jesus would treat us, we would be in BIG trouble. Because we will never be able to repay Jesus for our sin. We are in an incredible debt that we can't cancel. And Jesus doesn't tell us that we owe Him anything. He just wants us. And He proved that on the cross by giving Himself to us first WHILE WE WERE STILL SINNERS, while we were still in debt to Him. He claims us as innocent, while we were guilt. He claims us as free, while we were shackled. When we sin, if we call ourselves guilty for one second- we are denying the cross. We are FREE, we are FORGIVEN. Christ's blood was enough. And with THAT mindset, our only choice should be forgiveness to other and extend the beautiful grace of Jesus to others. We did not get what we deserve. And in saying that, that does NOT mean Jesus excuses our sin or is okay with it by any means. Our Father was JUST and PAID fully for our sin in His sin. There was a debt, but it was cancelled by His blood. Praise Him!!!! What an incredible TRUTH! And when we claim that truth, that we are innocent, BY NOTHING WE HAVE DONE, we will find STRENGTH by His Spirit and JOY in the cross to extend that forgiveness to others.

Colossians 2:13-15

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

While I was preparing for the talk I gave this past fall, I contacted many of my brothers and sisters and asked them to give me a definition of what they believe forgiveness is. These testimonies and definitions are POWERFUL....

Forgiveness:

The wrongs that I have done have been forgotten and will no longer be used against me.

Forgiveness is to understand His love- to whole heartedly seek to reconcile in hopes of restoration- to put the past behind you when reconciled and embrace the beauty of His love and example.

Accepting that everyone makes mistakes, but loving them anyways.

That a person has no more feelings of bitterness or hurt toward someone and the guilty person has fully acknowledged they have sinned, yet have accepted that they are forgiven and are also able to forgive themselves.

Forgiveness is synonymous with freedom. When you forgive someone you are free from whatever hold their offense had on you. When you are forgiven you are not bound by your past and can press onto the future.

Forgiveness means to be loved and to be able to accept love regardless of who I have been. Forgiveness means Romans 8:38-39

It means that I am always imperfect, and always will be, but He is perfect and that is what makes me new. His grace covers all my imperfection.

It means being made over, clean, brand new. The old is gone so that Jesus can move in. It means breaking down barriers that separate us from God. It means getting rid of ourselves so that we can be who God made us to be.

Peace and beauty and might of God that He would and could do that for me!

Letting go of past grievances and starting over.

Refusing to let what someone did or didn’t do change the way you view them.

Letting my mom hug me again.

Forgiveness means freedom. Because our debt is cancelled and we are free from punishment.

Forgiveness means letting go of wrongs, letting go of sin and it means to feel the love of God so powerfully that you can’t even fathom it.

It means completely removing ones debts owed to you just as you would want someone else to remove your own debts. Matthew 18:23-25.

To let go of bitterness and anger and move on without letting the situation make a foothold- to be FREED!

Praise Jesus for His perfect forgiveness. By His blood we are no longer condemned. We are under GRACE now, something we will never be able to fully comprehend or understand. However that GRACE cause us to extend that GRACE to others and live in it! FORGIVENESS IS FREEDOM!!! You are free from sin when we surrender to Jesus. He has already paid the penalty. Repent, and CLAIM that forgiveness in your life! Amen.