FORGIVENESS

“Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man has a quarrel against any; even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye(you). Colossians 3:13. If you are a Christian who is born again by the spirit of God and your life is a constant expression of love, Jesus and the Will of the Father, I can truly say there is a need in your life for you to forgive yourself and forgive others. Despite how the prevalence and necessary forgiveness is to one’s spiritually, emotionally, health and physical well-being, the so-called Christian cannot remove the hardness of their heart to forgive their, fellow-man. A study was conducted by John Hopkins Medicine on the importance of forgiveness, and it was discovered that unforgiveness has a great impact on your health. So be healthy and forgive, it will make you feel better about yourself and others. Sadly to say, I believe that most sickness and death is brought on by unforgiveness. It goes to finalize that if you walk around with unforgiveness, you are living in sin. “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins”. (Matthew 6:14). Whether it is a quarrel with your spouse or long-held resentment toward a family member or friend, unresolved conflict can go deeper than you may think and can do more harm than you realize. The Bible says all of us are in need of forgiveness. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. (Roman 3:23). From a spiritual perspective we all were born with a sin problem, eternally separated from God. We would be lost forever if God did not intervene and offer us forgiveness. If you are true to your God, and you know of the grace and mercy he has shown you by forgiving you of your sins, you would most heartily forgive others. Forgiving others is a good faith act for your own forgiveness. “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others of their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses”. (Matthew 3:14-15). Most people cannot wrap their head around forgiveness, that is why this is a difficult verse to deal with. God will not forgive you until you forgive others, so if you need help with forgiveness, you need to seek God and put it in his hands. “Jewel of Nuggets: our eternity depends upon it”. When you fail to forgive others, it breaks your fellowship with God, because you have sin in your heart. (Matthew 5:23-24) says, “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar.” First, go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift. When you are hurt, you expect the person to apologize, it would be the right thing to do. But look, God put the burden on you to seek forgiveness for the situation, he wants us to have love, and go to our brother or sister and talk it out and ask for forgiveness. I can say sometimes we are hurt so bad by someone it just looks as if, you can’t forgive them because they hurt you so bad. Well, let me say this, you must forgive, God expects us to make peace in some way. In (Acts 7:59) “we read that they stoned Stephen as he called upon God, and saying Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” But Stephen forgave them as he was dying saying “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” But most of all Jesus forgave his executioner as he was being crucified on the cross “Father forgive them for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). The question of how many times do I have to forgive my brother or sister is a big one with Christians and none believer. We seem to believe, if we forgive once, or twice, or maybe even three times, that is enough, but no, that is not consistent with the bible. The bible implies we should forgive a lifetime of living on this earth. The bible says, “Peter asked Jesus, how many times must I forgive my brother, who sin against me, shall it be seven times? And Jesus said to Peter, I say no unto thee, not seven times, but, until seventy times seven”. (Matthew 18:21-22) forgiveness is hard and doing it over and over again can seem impossible, but with God all things are possible. Also, God gives us common sense, will you allow situations that are harmful to your spiritual growth to follow you around in your life, I don’t know about you, but I would do all in my power to separate myself from people who will render me spiritual brokenness.  Forgiveness is necessary, and there are consequences for unforgiveness. God takes forgiveness very seriously, the parable in Matthew 18-34-35 is proof. If we don’t forgive there are consequences, eternal consequences! If you need to forgive, do it today. (Psalm 139:23. “Jewel of Nuggets” If you don’t forgive others, God will not forgive you”. Jesus showed us how to forgive, he is our ultimate example of forgiveness, you need to follow his examples. (John 8:7, 11) Forgiveness can be the hardest thing that God requires of us, but the good thing about it he doesn’t command us to forgive and then leave us on our own. He gave us Jesus, he gave us power by the working of the Holy Spirit. (Ephesians 4:32) says, “And be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you”. So in my closing, let me say “love” because love will cover a multitude of sin, so when you forgive your heart is set free to love, so above all things forgive and continue to love.

Well, another Jewels of Nuggets for the Soul.  Praise the Lord!