Free To ForgiveSample

Day 12

Now let's look at the last of God's requirements for true forgiveness.

Requirement 5: Bless and do good to the person.

But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. (Matt. 5:44–45)

This isn’t in the Matthew 18 parable, but from the overall teaching of the Bible, it is the final step, like stitching a wound and covering it with healing ointment. Whenever unforgiveness has existed for a long time, you have slid down that Slide of Unforgiveness. Your desire for justice has turned to a desire for vengeance. You wish the person harm. They have become an enemy—and therefore this verse applies.

Look carefully at those four commands Christ outlines for anyone who brings us pain: love, bless, do good, and pray for them. After extending compassion on the person, releasing them from your heart-prison, and forgiving them of all their trespasses, your heart is finally free to obey those commands.

In fact, your freedom to bless the very person who wounded you is also useful as proof-positive confirmation that forgiveness is finally complete. How will you know if you have truly forgiven? If you can look right at that person who hurt you so much, and bless them. You will know that you are free when you can wish well the one who wounded you. You are free.

It’s at this point that God begins to pour peace into your life. The parable has been lived, the debt forgiven. You look like your King.

Your face will soften; tenderness will come into your voice.

When we bless the one who has been our enemy, it is a love that should feel familiar.

It’s the love that Jesus has for each one of us.

This is the way of life Jesus has always intended for you. Yes, He understands the painful wounds of sin and injustice we experience in life. However, He made it crystal clear—choosing to forgive ourselves and others is always the right choice to make. To be like Him. To be like the Father.

Finally, remember, God desires freedom and peace for your life—for you to live the joyous way He intended. And the way to continually abide in His peace and freedom is to forgive and keep on forgiving. A beautiful way of living modeled and taught to us by His Son, Jesus Christ.

May God richly bless you, and may you continually enjoy the peace and freedom flowing from a life of forgiveness!

This is an excerpt from The Freedom Factor: Finding Peace by Forgiving Others… and Yourself, by Dr. Bruce Wilkinson with Mark E. Strong. Used by permission.