Forgiveness

Colossians 3:13 ~ "...bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive."

Perhaps the most expressive quality of Christlikeness is forgiveness.

The question comes in the minds of many of God's children, "How much must I forgive?" This is derived from the idea that there comes a point when someone has wronged us so much that we are convinced their sins are beyond forgiveness. Humanly speaking, it may be true. For our human condition is such that once we become the determiner of the depths of another's sin, we can then determine if someone is "worthy" of receiving forgiveness.

But that does not hold in the economy of God.

Consider our text. We are to forgive as Christ forgave us. Do you know the depths of sin that you have committed against the Lord? Can you fathom the full measure of how much you needed forgiveness? It was seen on the cross. Your forgiveness is paid in full through the wrath-bearing death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And your life is secured in His resurrection. I can confidently say, no one has sinned against you greater than you have sinned against God.

How can you know that your heart has been touched to the core with God's forgiveness? It will be seen when you are willing to love and forgive with the same love and forgiveness you yourself have received from Christ. John writes in 1 John 3:14, "We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death."

When Jesus met at a Pharisee's house, a woman came in with a depth of sorrow for sin that she could no longer endure. She said nothing, but washed the Lord's feet with her tears and dried them with her hair (see Luke 7:36-50). Then Jesus spoke to the Pharisee and said, "Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”

This woman, so grieved by her sin, so completely repentant and sorrowful, could do nothing but love the Lord Jesus with her tears! The Pharisee would have rejected her--in fact, society probably did reject her. But her life was transformed and it showed in the way she loved the Lord Jesus. The Pharisee, on the other hand, did not have the same level of love that the woman displayed. Thus, because his love was so shallow, it demonstrated that he understood little of the forgiveness which he needed. Perhaps the Pharisee did not even consider that he needed to be forgiven at all.

We all need forgiveness, for all of us have sinned against God. Our wicked crimes against the Almighty Judge deserve the severest of punishments. But God, who is rich in mercy, offered us grace in Christ who took our sins upon himself. Our forgiveness cost the suffering and death of Jesus. In Matthew 18 Jesus spoke a parable of an unmerciful servant. The crux of the issue comes in the statement of verses 32 and 33, "Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’"

And there is our command: forgive as the Lord has forgiven you.

It will be the highest expression of your Christian walk when you can live out the forgiveness you received in Christ through your willingness to forgive others. It brings a genuine freedom and it supplies a generous dose of God's mercy. Open your eyes and your heart to the magnanimous value of God's grace upon you... for you will then be able to dispense it abundantly to all.

In His Grace,
Pastor Michael

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