“Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;

Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.

And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.

And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.”

Colossians 3:12-15

FORGIVENESS

By Glen D. Owens

From the Chapel Glen Church of Christ Bulletin

Forgiveness is the intentional and voluntary process by which a person changes his feelings and attitude regarding an offense. Breaking this down to a means of understanding what is involved is easier said than done. The act of forgiveness depends more on the innocent rather than the guilty. Examples of this element of forgiveness are Jesus who said forgive them for they know not what they do and Stephen who asked that they not be charged for their sins.

In the cited examples, both men had a forgiving heart. There was a required action on the part of the guilty before they were forgiven but both Jesus and Stephen forgave them without any action from them. In what people call the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus instructed his disciples to pray for forgiveness as they forgave others. (Luke 6:37)

Peter was concerned about needing to repeatedly forgive his brother and asked how many times he should do this; seventy times? Jesus told him seventy times seven; in other words, an unlimited number of times. (Mt. 18:21-22) As we look at what Jesus told Peter, we must recognize that to forgive anyone so many times requires patience and understanding. It is so easy to judge someone for sinning or offending so many times but we must overlook the weakness in some people.

The part of forgiveness that seems to be so difficult is where we are responsible to forgive even though the person has never asked for forgiveness. There may be some situation where a person has done something that you believe is wrong or sinful but they think otherwise. In such cases they will probably not feel any responsibility to ask for forgiveness. So, where does that leave the person who believes that there is a necessity to ask for forgiveness? If there is no request for forgiveness, should I forgive any how or do I continue to hold that against the believed offender? This may result in holding a grudge against the alleged offender which is unhealthy and taught against.

There is an expression that can be heard from time to time when some disaster happens or someone has committed a wrong against another. You may have heard someone say ‘but for the grace of God, go I’. In such a case we can thank God that we were not involved and have a forgiving spirit toward the one who fell. It is so easy to judge by saying that we would never do what was done.

In Matthew 18:21-35 is the illustration Jesus gave after Peter asked how many times he should forgive his brother. He said that a man owed ten thousand talents to the king but could not pay it. Since he could not pay, there was the law that allowed the king to sell the servant and put his family in prison until the debt was paid. The servant asked for and received compassion from the king and the debt was forgiven. The servant then went to a fellow servant who owed him a hundred pence and when he could not pay had him put in prison. When the king found out what had happened, he had the ungrateful servant thrown in prison. The lesson is that you act toward someone else as you want them to act toward you.

Forgiveness is a two-way street as shown in the above example. If I am not a forgiving person, how and why should I expect others to forgive me? Whether I have wronged someone or they have wronged me, forgiveness is needed. The problem so often happens that there is no communication between the parties in this situation and the wrong is never corrected by forgiveness by either party.

The conclusion of the matter at hand is that those who crucified Jesus evidently did not know that they had sinned until Peter told them that they had killed the Messiah. When they heard this, they repented and asked for the forgiveness that Jesus had promised.