THE ART OF FORGIVENESS

MY JOURNEY: OCTOBER 16, 2018

If you have been following my post of late you know that I have been going through a difficult patch in my life. The good news: I have completed reading the Gospels- Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and the book of Acts as well as Colossians. However, my journey has sent me through out the old and new Covenants as the Spirit of God has reminded me  of the basics of faith in Him.
It is not enough: to make a decision to submit to the word and will of God, to put on the armor of God, to speak the word only,  or even to resit the devil so that he will flee.

As it is written in Luke "to whom much is given, from him much will be required" (12:48). We are blessed to be a blessing to others and not just so we can have stuff. Forgiveness is a blessing from God that we should reciprocate; "Freely you have received, freely give." (Matthew 10:8)

LUKE 7:47
Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”

To many people walk in unforgiveness because someone has committed an unforgivable sin against them. They struggle in life not realizing that God's mercy towards them is based on their mercy towards others. (Luke 6:38) God is not punishing the individual, that person is just experiencing the consequences of his actions, which could be not forgiving.

I grew up hearing people declare: "I will forgive but I won't forget!" Is that true forgiveness? I firmly believe we should remember the lesson but forgive and forget the actual incident- that is not always easy to do.

MATTHEW 18:21-22
Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”
Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

When a person repeatedly commits the same transgression, how does one forgive her? What if that person is a family member?

What does forgiveness look like?  I can tell you what I believe forgiveness does not look like. In my opinion forgiveness is not:

• Loaning a person money who never pays you back and becoming angry because it happened again.. Call it a gift but don't call it a loan, the money that you gave is gone- forget about it. If you cannot afford to give that person, even your child, the money then say "NO."
• Returning to a situation in which you are mentally or physically abused just because a passionate apology was made. You cannot forgive when you live in fear- perfect love cast out fear (1 John 4:18)  Abusive people do not love themselves, you can forgive him / her for what was done when you feel free to be you often this occurs outside of the abusers presence. 
• Communicating as little as possible in monolithic tones and reserved body language reveals intolerance and unforgiveness.  Often these are the people who say "I forgive but can't forget".  Gossip, lies, assaults and such are the root of  strained friendships and family relationships.  No one wants to apologize because both sides believes he or she is right: the forgiveness is actually spoken to others and not directly to the offender. 

Those are the few incidents that I can think of in which unforgiveness exist. You may be have a valid reason for not wanting to forgive someone but that does not make it unnecessary.

YOU CAN BE VERY WRONG BEING RIGHT.

As I work on my own forgiveness issues I realize that the basis of forgiveness is love.  Part of my problem lately is I am becoming angry and self righteous. I have not been trusting in YHWH (Proverbs 3:5-6)  or even being lead by the Spirit (Galatians 5:16). Am I being hard on myself? ABSOLUTELY! (Matthew 7:3-4)

COLOSSIANS 3:12-14 THE VOICE
Since you are all set apart by God, made holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with a holy way of life: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.  Put up with one another. Forgive. Pardon any offenses against one another, as the Lord has pardoned you, because you should act in kind. But above all these, put on love! Love is the perfect tie to bind these together.

ROMANS 5:8
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

The reason why we forgive is because we are forgiven. The reason I forgive because I am a mess and yet YHWH not only forgave me but made sure that I would have a personal relationship with Him through His so Yeshua. The reason you should forgive is tomorrow during the course of the day you will sin and you will need Father God's mercy, forgiveness.

I forgive because I know me and I know that I have been forgiven much. NOW let me point out: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS BIG SINS AND LITTLE SINS. I may not have murdered a person but my words have been murderous. You may have not committed a sexual abomination but your knowledge of astrology is an abomination to the Lord. (Anytime you are dependent on a person or ideology to reveal your identity you are not trusting God. You are in the image and likeness of Him.) My point is: Forgiveness is not an option therefore I must forgive whoever I believe has not done me right even if it is the one hundredth time this person has done the same thing.

Forgiveness is not an option and neither is love.

1 JOHN 4:7-8
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.  He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

It is easy to forgive our brothers and sisters in Christ (note the qualifier) when you walk in love.
                                                                                written by Marsha L F Randolph

The basis of this book is what I believe to be true,
I am still moving forward by faith.
THIS EBOOK IS AVAILABLE VIA SMASHWORDS IN ALL EREADER FORMATS.

MY JOURNEY reflects the faith filled opinions and property of the author MARSHA L F RANDOLPH. All rights reserved- do not use without permission. All Scriptures quoted are from the New King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise stated. Don’t miss weekly faith based post FOLLOW THIS BLOG and receive notifications when a new article is posted.