196B — another bit on forgiveness
This one came into tentpegsquestion@yahoo.com in response to the last blog.
I read your blog about forgiveness. I was “Amening” all the way- until the middle to end of the post. I have a question about this part:
Jesus was talking about faith — daily faith — and the power it gives us when he said “And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” (Mark 11:27) Since we are ambassadors of Christ — priests, in fact — this is no small matter. Others are not forgiven until we forgive them! John 20:23 says “If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” By refusing to forgive this man, your friend is placing their soul — and his own — in mortal jeopardy.
Are you saying that if we do not recieve forgiveness from someone we have hurt, we are not forgiven by God? I am confused and a bit worried now, due to my own past sins. I have hurt many folks over the course of my lifetime. I know there are some who have not forgiven me. So where does that leave me?
Thanks, as always, for being brave. Confronting the hard issues and standing for God
Let not your heart be troubled. Jesus was speaking of forgiving those who have no access to God except through us, His followers. When he gave this instruction to his apostles, they were still under the Jewish system that required one go through a priest to commune with God. As you state, we are now priests of God. We can introduce people to God and we can pray for them before the throne of God.
But what about our own forgiveness, especially if someone refuses to forgive us? Since we are priests, we can go directly to God for that forgiveness. And we will be forgiven for He promised that we would be!
Remember: our forgiving those who trespass against us does not mean they are saved. It merely means that, as Stephen said, that particular sin will not be used against them on the day of Judgment. And if someone refuses to forgive us even after we have repented, our saved state before the Lord is not removed for “love covers a multitude of sins” and “the blood of Christ continually cleanses us of all sin.”
August 12th, 2009 at 8:05 pm
Thanks for your posts on forgiveness. This subject needs attention now, more than ever.
August 13th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
“our forgiving those who trespass against us does not mean they are saved. It merely means that, as Stephen said, that particular sin will not be used against them on the day of Judgment.”
That line confuses me a little bit.
Our forgiving of another person does not necessarily mean that God will forgive them (although that seems to be His intent). It also does not save them, as only their personal faith in Jesus can do that. What it DOES do is release us and show, in us, that we are made in the image of our Father; for forgiveness, not wrath, is our first, instinctive reaction to being harmed.