Forgiveness: The Freedom of the GospelSample

Forgiven People Forgive Others

“Everyone thinks forgiveness is a lovely idea until they have something to forgive.” C. S. Lewis.

While forgiveness is one of the most recognized tenets of the Christian faith, we come across Christians all the time who struggle to forgive. In a recent Barna.com report, The Mercy Journey, 23% of Christians surveyed identify someone that they can’t forgive and 22% struggle with receiving forgiveness. That tells me that while forgiveness may be deemed important, it is often considered optional. Yet the Gospel doesn’t give us an “out” clause when it speaks of forgiveness—quite the opposite. God expects forgiven people to forgive others, so much so that He connects His forgiveness with ours.

It was sobering to me when I first realized God has linked His forgiveness with our willingness to forgive others. The one clause of The Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13) that has a condition attached to it is, “And forgive us our debts as we have also forgiven our debtors.” However, it’s not the condition I would expect. If I were predicting a condition about forgiveness that Jesus would teach us to pray in a model prayer, it would be something like, “God, help me forgive others the way you have forgiven me.” But what Jesus commanded is exactly the opposite of that. Jesus is teaching us to pray this: “God, please use the standard I use in dealing with those who wound me as the standard you use to relate to me.” Personally, I don’t want God using anything I do as His standard, particularly how I deal with wounds, but that is precisely what Jesus tells us to pray.

Forgiveness is also the only part of the model prayer to which Jesus gives immediate commentary: “For if you forgive men for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive them, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.” He says that if we forgive others, our Father will forgive us. But if we do not forgive others, He will not forgive us. (Matthew 6:14-15) Jesus is not talking about eternal security; that’s a completely different discussion. What Jesus is saying is this: God is serious about whether or not we forgive others. God expects forgiven people to forgive others so much so that he connects His forgiveness with ours.

And this isn’t isolated to just this one passage. Multiple times throughout the Gospels Jesus declares something very similar. Mark 11:25-26 teaches that our unforgiveness can even obstruct our prayer life.

Since God really does expect forgiven people to forgive others, then we need to learn to become expert forgivers. With that in mind, let me welcome you to this 7-day journey to freedom as we learn from scripture why we forgive, what forgiveness is and is not, who pays for the wound, and how to know that you have truly forgiven.