FORGIVENESS
This week, we’re going to look at the issue of forgiveness. What it means and what its all about, why we need it and most importantly, why God requires it from us.
Forgiveness. What is forgiveness? We obviously have a lot of our own ideas and theories concerning this but one definition I like a lot is, “to forgive someone is to stop feeling displeasure at his acts or actions that have hurt you”. There’s a very common mistake a lot of people make concerning forgiveness which is, they believe that all they have to do is say. “I forgive you”. Forgiveness is a much more complicated process than just merely saying it with your mouth, It has to come from the depths of your heart. i.e. you have to mean every word you say when you tell someone that you forgive them. Also take note that forgiveness doesn’t mean that the person’s action didn’t hurt you, it just means that it’s not a barrier to your relationship anymore. Understanding this will help you to truly forgive people from the heart and not just with your lips. I don’t want you to live under the assumption that all this is easy or pleasant, but it takes discipline and awareness to achieve. Discipline yourself to be able to forgive someone no matter what they’ve done to wrong you. This statement made by Jesus in Matthew 6 vs. 14-15 will help you to understand better; Matt 6:14-15 (ASV)
14)For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
15)But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses
Let that serve as a reminder that if you don’t forgive others, God wont forgive you either, but if you forgive others, God will also forgive you.
Now that we’ve seen what forgiveness is really about, let’s look at why we need to forgive people.
(i) As we saw in Matthew 6:14-15 above, We need to forgive others so that God can forgive us.
(ii) Grudges hinder our prayers.
God won’t listen to what you have to say if you come to him with grudges in your
heart against other people. Instead of wasting your time holding on to grudges, why not let go and let God answer your prayers.
(iii) Because God has forgiven you so much
Lets look at an example; Imagine you lend a friend 5000 naira and you tell him to repay you next week. Next week comes and he is unable to pay you and with his current su=ituation, you doubt if he’ll be able to eventually pay you. He starts pleading vigorously with you to forgive him and you do. The next day in school, you see the same guy harassing someone who owes him just 20 naira. It gets so bad that he threatens to take his shoes if the boy doesn’t return his 20 naira. How will this make you feel? Will you be ready to forgive him next time around? So also God is always unhappy when he sees us holding unto grudges against people after he forgave us of so many sins.
Let this thought be your motivation as you go out this week, “If God can forgive the numerous sins of over 6 billion people daily, then I can forgive the few people around me who have hurt me”.
Join us again next week. GOD BLESS YOU.
PRAYER; God, you have forgiven me so much. Forgive me again for refusing to forgive those that have hurt me, I have no right to hold on to grudges and Lord, help me to come to a place whaere I can easily forgive anyone from the depth of my heart. Amen.
L
