PLEASE FORGIVE

“I’m sorry, please forgive me.” Only the Lord knows how many times these words should have been uttered but instead something got in the way of saying them. Maybe it was pride, maybe it was arrogance, maybe it was ignorance, but in any case, we need to be a forgiving people. Just how important is forgiveness? Our life depends upon it. By that I mean our eternal life as Jesus said in Matthew 6:14-15, “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” When we realize that the Father not forgiving us means we face His unmixed wrath, then it quickly becomes a matter of spiritual life or death (cf. Rm. 3:23, 6:23). We need God’s forgiveness which means we need to be willing to forgive one another.
 
Peter asked Jesus if seven times was enough to forgive a brother who sinned against him (Mt. 18:21). Jesus expanded the number to seventy times seven, but He had in mind far more than four hundred and ninety times (Mt. 18:22). The idea Jesus set forth was one of a willingness to forgive regardless of how many times one needs to be forgiven. Recall that Jesus prayed for His persecutors while on the cross that they would be forgiven (Lk. 23:34). This prayer began to be answered on Pentecost when the Gospel was preached and obeyed (cf. Ac. 2:36ff). This teaches us that forgiveness mandates action on the one who needs forgiveness and the one who is forgiving. Forgiveness is not without condition.
 
In Luke 17:3-4 Jesus stated, “Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.” Observe that action is required by the one who was sinned against. This individual is responsible for rebuking the trespasser. This means going to that person and that person alone to charge them with the fault (cf. Mt. 18:15). Note that after the rebuke has taken place there is condition on the part of the one who sinned for forgiveness to take place. Repentance must be present to forgive. Repentance, if it is truly repentance, will always bear fruit and fruit is visible (cf. Mt. 3:8, 7:16-20). If we have the willingness to forgive and repentance is there then forgiveness should take place every time the conditions are met. Such is the case with God when we seek His forgiveness and meet His conditions as His children (cf. Ac. 8:22; 1 Jn. 1:9). Truly God offers His forgiveness and so we should offer ours.
 
In Matthew 18:23-35 Jesus set forth the parable of the unforgiving servant. He owed a massive debt which was forgiven by his master and yet he refused to forgive a small debt owed him by his fellow servant. This is exactly why we need to forgive one another because we need God’s forgiveness! As the song goes, “He paid the debt He did not own, I own the debt I could not pay.” None of us could pay the debt owed by our sin by ourselves and so Christ laid down His life as a ransom for all (1 Tim. 2:5-6). That great sacrifice should motivate us all to forgive one another when sin occurs between us. An unforgiving attitude is a horrible thing to have and will condemn our soul to hell. Let us adopt the attitude that Paul wrote about to the Ephesians when he said, “And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you” (Eph. 4:32 NKJV). Please forgive!

Trent Thrasher