The Freedom of Forgiveness

“Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, it does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails“. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

You may be wondering what this famous love scripture has to do with forgiveness? Isn’t this the one reserved for marriage ceremonies and things of that nature? Yes, it is often used in those circumstances, but in order to truly walk in the light that God has called you to, you are going to have to walk in love….with everyone.
Everyone? Yes, absolutely everyone.
One of the fruits of walking in love is having the ability to forgive everyone, anyone, regardless of what they have done to hurt or offend you. Forgiveness is by definition, “the act of setting a person free from a debt or obligation to you that is a result of a wrong done against you.”
Before we move on and I push all of your hot buttons, let’s look at a few things that forgiveness does not mean:

• Forgiveness does not mean that you have to ignore the pain that was caused or pretend that it doesn’t exist. If the infraction or offense was life altering, the pain may stay with us for years.

• Forgiveness does not mean that the incident must be completely forgotten. Many traumatic events are impossible to forgive. We really don’t have control of our brain or its ability to remember situations or events.

Now, in an ideal situation there are three steps to forgiveness. First, the offending person acknowledges that a wrong has occurred. Second, repentance takes place on the part of the offender, asks for forgiveness, and thirdly, we forgive them. That is the ideal situation. The trouble is, we all know that life often happen in an ideal, neat and tidy way.
Walking in the love of God requires us to go much further than simply forgiving a person when they come to us with a heartfelt apology. Did you read what it says in 1 Corinthians 13? Love does not take into account a wrong suffered. The word used here for “take into account” is logizomai, which means to count, calculate, enumerate, or list. Have you ever been in an argument with your spouse and began to bring out the laundry list of the things they have done wrong in your relationship? If the answer is yes, then you are not walking in the love of God.
So how do we develop this God kind of love that is always merciful, kind and forgiving? It seems impossible. Guess what? It is. There is no way that you, as a fleshly person can ever learn to love the way God loves. It’s not even possible.

So, what’s the answer?
You’ll be happy to know that in order to walk in love and walk in forgiveness, all you have to do is resist your fleshly, carnal, human nature and “put on Christ.”
“For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” Galatians 3:27
How do we “put on Christ?” By spending time with Him. By asking Him to come into your heart and to fill you with His presence and His nature. Once you are a born again believer, the Bible tells us that all things are made new. You are a new creation in Christ. In order to actually ACT like a new creation, you have to stay IN CHRIST. And that is actually very good news. Once you realize that you can’t do anything without Him, but you can do “all things through Christ who strengthens you,” it is very freeing.
Once we put on Christ, we put on forgiveness, and freely forgive each other, moved to do so simply by the astounding forgiveness we have received from our Lord himself.
Forgiveness is a heart condition. When we forgive others we set them free and we set ourselves free as well. Walking in unforgiveness will turn into deep seated bitterness after a while. Doctors have already proven that when we harbor bitterness against someone, certain glands in our body produce excessive amounts of hormones. These hormones eventually cause a breakdown of our bodies.
Forgiveness also liberates us from the bondage that comes with an unforgiving spirit. If we refuse to forgive another person until they have acknowledged their offense toward us, we’ve effectively made them a powerful authority in our life. When you release the person from his offense, you are saying, “I choose to no longer be held hostage spiritually and emotionally by this individual.” Whether that person ever repents or not is between them and God. When you release them, you open the door to healing from the hurt and pain of the offense.

Bottom line? We have no right to hold unforgiveness in our hearts against anyone. Unforgiveness will:

• Cripple us emotionally

• Turn into bitterness

• Affect our health

• Stagnate our walk with God

• Keep us from receiving forgiveness for our own wrongdoings (“For if you forgive men their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.” Matthew 6:14-15.”)

• Hold us captive to our fleshly nature

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want ANY of those things in my life. Make the decision to put on Christ today.

Ask Him to give you a forgiving heart and He will. There is freedom in forgiveness, and “whom the Son sets free, is free indeed!” John 8:36