The Keys To Victory (Part 3)

The Keys To Victory (Part 3)

Forgiveness is not just a reluctant handshake, a forced smile, or mumbled words. It is a true change in feelings and attitudes that comes from deep inside your soul and spirit. Its negative influence on your emotions, thoughts, and actions will cease. You can only do this when you have been forgiven yourself and understand the true concept of forgiveness. 

If you say that you will forgive, but that you will never forget, you betray the fact that our forgiveness is wrapped in carnality.  It's true that you will probably always remember the incident, but what changes with true forgiveness is the way you feel about it. It no longer matters as it once did.  Before forgiveness was extended, the fault was a barrier of resentment, anger, and mistrust.  After forgiveness is extended and received, there is peace.  Even though you remember the event, the emotional reaction to it is no more.

Forgiveness is much more than refusing to take revenge against someone who has hurt you.  You may have enough self-control not to retaliate, but inside you are furious. Once wronged,  you are determined to punish the offender. When you happen to meet up with a person who has wronged you, you show them by your manner that their offense is not forgotten.  When you truly forgive, although you  may remember the incident, you no longer dwell on it, harbor negative emotions concerning it, or react hatefully to the offender. 

Forgiveness is not simply ignoring an incident, pretending that it didn't happen, or claiming you were not hurt. There can be no forgiveness by merely ignoring a wrong. When two people try to ignore offenses, their relationship will suffer.  Forgiveness brings truth, love, and joy into every relationship where it is practiced in a positive way.

The way you forgive people should be patterned after the way that God forgives us.  God made the first move.  He initiated forgiveness with His arms stretched wide on the cross. If we are to practice forgiveness, we must also learn to make the first move.  God forgives sinners because He loves them, thinks they are worth forgiving, and because He wants to have a relationship with them. To be real and lasting, our forgiveness must emulate God’s example, which is more than giving a reluctant apology or a handshake which we offer because we think it is the right thing to do.

 Your offender may not even realize what they have done. We usually think a person who hurt us did it deliberately. Jesus taught a profound truth that offenders sometimes do not know what they are doing.  While hanging on the cross Jesus said, “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”  People who are slaves to sin have no ability to do anything other than sin. It is impossible for them to do God's will and live holy, righteous, compassionate lives.  Because of this, they are prone to hurt us. Sometimes even believers are oblivious to their hurtful actions and attitudes towards others.

 You are only harming yourself by refusing to forgive. The Lord’s emphasis on forgiving others is not only because it is morally right to forgive, but also because it  is vital for spiritual and psychological health. People who refuse to forgive are under immense spiritual, physical, psychological, mental, and emotional stress. 

 God views forgiveness as the means to a restored, reconciled relationship. Forgiveness is offered so that we can enjoy an eternal relationship with God.  Many people do not emulate this when it comes to forgiving others. Some people say that they will forgive a person who hurt them but that they want nothing more to do with them. They never want to see them again and want no sort of relationship in the future. That is not true forgiveness. 
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 Anger, revenge, harsh words, and withholding forgiveness all accomplish the enemy's work of keeping people isolated and divided.  Just as forgiveness of our sin through the cross reunites sinners with God,  so the forgiveness we offer should restore broken relationships.  

 Where there is unity, that is where God’s blessings are poured out, including financial blessings:

 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like  the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard:  that went down to the skirts of his garments; As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that  descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing,  even life for evermore. (Psalm133:1-3)

 Where is divine provision manifested?  Where brothers and sisters dwell together in unity.