Receiving Grace and ForgivingSýnishorn

Day 1 – Forgiveness, a moral debt

REFLECTIONS

Forgiveness is to forgive a debt that someone owes us or something they have against us and as such owes us a moral debt.

Read Matthew 18:15-35 and take a moment to answer the following questions:

 ➤  What does Jesus teach us?

 ➤ In your view, what characterises true forgiveness?

 ➤  What do you think are the consequences of forgiveness?

STUDY

This text starts with the words “If another believer sins against you…” because in reality forgiveness is the natural follow on and logical response to sin according to God’s heart. As we have already seen in the chapter “Meeting Jesus and following Him”, sin is serious because it separates us from God. And Jesus firstly teaches us here about the severity of sin and how to help a believer who has disobeyed the will of God. Jesus reveals to us how to gain the trust and the heart of this person, to help them realise their error and to come back to God in repentance and to receive His forgiveness. Because God isn’t there to judge us, but to forgive and free us.

As Jesus reveals here in love we must not above all support someone’s sin. Because in reality if we ignore the sin of someone else, we don’t really love them: on the contrary, we allow them to grow further away from God. Whereas when we love our neighbour, we can confront them about their disobedience with love, not judgment, in order to lead them in repentance and the process of restoration.

Often people easily say “you need to forgive”. Actually, these people are often themselves sinning and do not want to deal with it, so they hope that God will close His eyes to their sin when they arrive in eternity. And so they would like us to do the same thing for them here on Earth. However, forgiveness is not about ignoring these kinds of things as if nothing was happening, it is about recognising and confronting these things to sort them out because they destroy us. It is for this reason that Jesus is serious about sin and calls us to do the same.

Next in this text we have Peter’s question, “If someone sins against me”.  Here Peter isn’t talking any more about the relationship of the other person in regards to God, but the relationship with him. Peter knows that he has been offended before and will be again, it’s part of life and he knows that he is meant to forgive. Yet he would like to know just how far forgiveness goes. And it is certainly the same thing for us today.

First of all it must be said that forgiveness necessitates knowing that we have been offended, ridiculed, betrayed, abandoned, despised, victim of an injustice etc. This provokes a hurt within our heart which, if not treated, will come and destroy our relationship with the other person, with God and sometimes even our own identity.

Once we have recognised the material, physical or moral debt that has been provoked because we have been offended, then we have to take a decision: to put away this debt by choosing to cancel it. Because forgiving is not ignoring things as if it hadn’t occurred, it is recognising what has happened and, in front of God, deciding to forgive the person who has offended us. This comes back to giving up our right to make the other person suffer until they have repaid what they owe me. The story at the end of this passage in Matthew shows an example of non-forgiveness. This man had the right to put his debtor into prison, which is what he did. In the same way, when we don’t forgive we put people in prisons of our unforgiveness. But Jesus gave us the example when, on the cross He said, “Father, forgive them…” (Luke 23:24).

Forgiving is therefore firstly recognising that somebody owes us something, that we have a right, and so it is making the choice to renounce, with no conditions or counterpart. True forgiveness consists of forgetting about what has happened in the past, to no longer dwell upon these things. We no longer think about these things that have been forgiven. So, if we are once more in conflict, we can no longer say things like “it’s always the same”, “you did that to me” etc. What has been forgiven belongs to God, no longer to us. It’s also what God has done in our lives. He doesn’t treat us according to what we have done in the past by reminding us of our faults. He has forgiven and freed us and He treats us according to His grace. So let us act in the same way towards those whom we have forgiven.

Knowing how to forgive is powerfully freeing because it frees the person whom we are forgiving and it also allows us to have a renewed relationship with them. But it also allows us to leave behind the trap of hatred and bitterness that destroys us. Before going further, I encourage you to take time with the Holy Spirit so that He can help you to look at the state of your heart. Let Him show you if you still have allowed any bitterness towards certain people to take root, so that you can take the decision to forgive them.

MY DECISION :

 ➤ What I have understood for my own personal life : 

 ➤ What I am deciding to do in my life based upon what I have just learnt :

 ➤ What you decide to do today will determine who and what you will be tomorrow !