Outrageous Forgiveness; Unfathomable Love

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When I’m listening to a sermon and realize that, again, the pastor is teaching about forgiveness, I’ll admit, there’s a part of me that wants to get up and leave.

But has God ever wasted His time or mine? No.

I know I need to reexamine my heart one more time, each time the topic comes up.

We may hide behind the words ‘unable to forgive’. But God’s Word makes it clear that forgiveness is a choice. He CHOSE to forgive us and expects us to do the same, because along with His outrageous forgiveness comes His unfathomable love.

Again, I read the story of the king who forgave a huge amount of money, the sum of which the debtor could in no way repay. The story is shared by Jesus, Himself. Here’s a link to the story: Matthew 18:23-35

Why would anyone allow a man to amass such great debt that they would never be able to repay it, and then forgive it?

Also, why would a man forgiven of such a great debt hold a small debt against someone else?

Knowing this story points us to God’s great love for us which gives us freedom to choose to turn away from Him.

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To whom do I owe a debt? The bank. Yes, we chose to buy a house. And yes, we’re still paying that mortgage. Thank God, it’s our only financial debt. Though I have heard of it happening, I don’t expect my bank to suddenly announce that my debt has been paid by someone else, or that out of the kindness of their hearts they’ve decided to write off what we owe them.

Yet, I owed a bigger debt, a spiritual debt that I could never pay: I chose to sin.

According to the Bible, the only acceptable payment for any sin is death. “For the wages of sin is death…” - Romans 6:23

That means I would have to die and be separated from God forever to pay for the smallest of the sins I’ve committed. God doesn’t weigh sins as little white lies and big black marks. All sin hurts Him. James 2:10 tells says, “whosoever shall keep the whole law, but yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”

So, we owe God payment with our lives if we’ve ever sinned at all.

Good news! Romans 6:23 (mentioned above) goes on to say that because God loves us, “the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

“God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not die, but have everlasting life.” – John 3:16

So, this answers the first question; the king, Our King, allows us to choose to sin, and chose to forgive us our unsurmountable debt, because He loves us. Jesus chose to die in our place, as payment for our sins.

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But question number two. Why would one who’s been forgiven such a great debt, a debt that could only be paid by dying and being separated from God for all of eternity – withhold forgiveness from someone else?

Because it hurts. When someone wrongs us, our humanity wants to hold it against them, to hurt them back.

God tells us that this isn’t His way of doing things. He IS love. When He’s forgiven our debt, He (Love) lives inside us, and we need to do things His way, not because of rules, but out of His love.

To not forgive is selfish, it puts our hurt feelings (mind and body) up there as more important that God.

To forgive does NOT mean that what the person did was not wrong. It was wrong.

Jesus DID NOT say that what we did was not sin or became acceptable. It was sin. He gave His life as payment FOR our sin. 

He DID say that the penalty was paid in full. (See Hebrews 7:27, Hebrews 9:12, Hebrews 9:28)

It grieves my heart when someone says, “I’ll never forgive them…” denying themselves freedom from the hurt.

Mostly, because it indicates that they’ve not accepted God’s forgiveness for their own sins.

But also because Mark 11:24-26 says, “Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.  And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”

(christianpost.com)