21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.
29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’
30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.
32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
“The Echo of Forgiveness”
Forgiveness is at the heart of the Christian faith. Without it there is no faith.
Forgiveness does not seek to cover up the wrong; it is not soft, blind or unconcerned about evil; nor is it soft on justice. Forgiveness never looses sight of the person behind the act; the person who is in need of help.
The limit to forgiveness is the degree to which we have been forgiven. And that is much!
Only the person who receives forgiveness can pass it on;
only the person who passes on forgiveness really receives it.
Forgiveness begins with being forgiven.
Forgiveness is an echo. It does not originate with us and it does not end with us.
We forgive as we have been forgiven.
”My Rights And God’s Mercy”
To live with mercy as the heart beat of our lives means that what is loving, forgiving, merciful, and thus life giving, comes before just being right.
“If there is anything which keeps us out of the Kingdom of Heaven, it is our own goodness and rightness which forgets how much mercy we have received, and refuses to pass it on.”
“Principles, as important as they are, are never as important as people. To stand on principle when people are hurting is a gross sin in the Kingdom of Heaven!”
“It really doesn’t make much difference, if any, if we play bingo in church. That really isn’t much of a concern in the Kingdom of Heaven. What is of great concern, is whether or not our lives are being lived out in a style where mercy is integral to our living. Where we live not to ourselves and we die not to ourselves, but to the Lord who has forgiven us much!”
“To Be Forgiven Is To Be Forgiving”
Forgiveness is not an option in the Kingdom of Heaven...it is a requirement. We cannot choose if we are going to forgive or who we are going to forgive or not forgive...we are to forgive as we have been forgiven!
There also is to be no limit on our being forgiving, for there is no limit on God’s forgiving us. And once we give it, we are not to take it back any more then we are to withhold it to get our pound of flesh.
Forgiveness - showing mercy - is at the center of everything God is about, even justice and judgment and it is to be at the center of our lives too.
:
“When somebody you’ve wronged forgives you, you’re spared the dull and self-diminishing throb of a guilty conscience.
When you forgive somebody who has wronged you, you’re spared the dismal corrosion of bitterness and wounded pride.
For both parties, forgiveness means the freedom again to be at peace inside their own skins and to be glad in each others presence.”
Frederick Buechner “Listening To Your Life”, p. 305
Forgiveness is something we all need and we all need to give, for without it there can be no meaningful relationship in our lives and with it nothing can stop us from creating a new future out of pasts failures and unfairness. It is, as Lewis Smedes says in his book “Forgive ANd Forget”, “...love’s revolution against life’s unfairness”
for “When we forgive we ride the crest of love’s cosmic wave; we walk in stride with God.” and then anything can happen!
Forgiveness makes “done things undone.” There is no revenge to be had; no grudge to be satisfied; no left over wrong to be righted. That has all been forgiven and when something is forgiven it is undone! That’s how powerful forgiveness is, if we only dared believe it and live it.
To be forgiven and forgiving is to live believing that we can have a common future even with our enemies and even with those who have treated us unfairly. It is to live believing in forgiveness, which is “...love’s revolution against life’s unfairness.”
Lewis Smedes “To Forgive and Forget”
“Forgiveness is love’s toughest work, and love’s biggest risk. If you twist it into something it was never meant to be, it can make you a doormat or an insufferable manipulator.” Lewis Smedes“ To Forgive and Forget” p. xii
Forgiveness opens up new possibilities and offers health and wholeness - salvation if you please - to me and to the one who hurt me. For “when we forgive we ride
the crest of love’s cosmic wave; we walk in stride with God. And we heal the hurt we never deserved.” Lewis Smedes“To Forgive and Forget”, p.152
Pastor Larry, Lewis Smedes' book, Forgive and Forget, is my favorite book o the subject. Thank you for reminding us of the importance of forgiveness.
ReplyDelete