Forgiveness

Forgiveness:

What do you know about it?
What does it do to you?
What do others know of it through you?



“When this passing world is done—
When has sunk yon glorious sun;
When we stand with Christ in glory,
Looking o’er life’s finished story;
Then, Lord, shall I fully know—
Not till then—how much I owe!”

“When I stand before the throne,
Clothed in beauty not my own;
When I see thee as thou art,
Love thee with unsinninng heart;
Then, Lord, shall I fully know—
Not till then—how much I owe!”

(Rev. Robert M’Cheyn, d. 1843)



Greetings Friend.

M’Cheyn’s words express his heart’s desire to acknowledge before God that he knows the graces of God that he participates in, and that he cannot, this side of heaven, fully grasp nor fully acknowledge what he owes God concerning them. He knows there is this limit, and his confessions serve the purpose of placing him in a humble position before God. M’Cheyn understands to a degree and confesses that. He knows he’ll understand all later, and he anticipates that! He is grateful to God for what God has bestowed upon him.

How about you? What role does that which you understand now play in your confessions to God and in fueling your anticipations toward being with God? Any? Do you believe you understand what Christianity is, but for some reason your life (to yourself and those who observe you) communicates something essential is apparently lacking?

Grace begets grace. As God’s graces work their way through your heart (not just your head), you live differently because grace through the heart transforms one’s entire life. The bible implies this clearly with the phrase being “born again.” A Christian should be a new person, and at a minimum experience as ongoing life principles and expressions those graces that brought about his or her transformation from sinner to saint. That set of transformational graces should remain and grow, manifesting throughout the person’s life and creating grace fruits for others to experience and benefit from. Grace “in the head only” can cause one to “believe” they are something other than what their life testifies about them. Grace believed but not received can prevent one from participating in the life God’s graces intend.

To summarize: If you know you have been a recipient of God’s graces are you yourself gracious? This is how grace begets grace. It touches you, transforms you, and then touches others through you. This can be seen as manifestation of both God’s will and God’s kingdom. The same holds with love begetting love or mercy begetting mercy. If one has truly experienced God’s love and God’s mercy, then that person is transformed and in turn extends love and mercy to others.

Consider the following passages on God’s forgiveness, how the concepts fit together, how your life has been touched by God’s forgiveness, and how you, having been touched and transformed by God’s forgiveness, forgive others. What do the passages below confirm to you about your heart (not your head), your life, and how does your heart direct confession of such truths to God?


“He [Jesus] said to them, "This, then, is how you should pray: 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.’” (Matt 6:8-15)

“…the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants . . .Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed . . .This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart." (Matt 18:21-35)

“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.” (Col 2:13-14)

“Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” (Col 3:12-14)

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. (Eph 4:32)


Friend, observations from the above passages abound. Let me share a few.

God’s forgiveness is transformative.

Forgiveness is a condition that is to be acknowledged regularly by a Christian as a necessary dynamic for living life with and before God. A Christian, as one who has experienced God’s forgiveness personally, should possess a continued awareness of one’s own need for forgiveness from God (and seek it).

Forgiveness, as an ongoing and essential part of life (as is daily bread), is part of the fulfillment of the prayer for God’s will to be done on earth as in Heaven, and is part of the fulfillment of the prayer for God’s kingdom to come. Both of these expressive realities (God’s will and God’s kingdom) are somewhat manifest through the believer’s life when that person lives from and by forgiveness.

The prayer continues and also emphasizes the centrality of temptation and evil in life, which are as real to the Christian’s daily experience as are physical sustenance (bread) and spiritual sustenance (forgiveness). The believer, as a forgiven one, is always aware of these facts and in humility confesses them to God. Daily nourishment is necessary and ongoing. Evil and temptation are ongoing. Forgiveness, because of the continued presence of evil and temptation, is as essential to life as daily bread and should be received, in humility, from God and extended to others.

This sensitivity and discernment with respect to forgiveness is ongoing. As Christians, we are sinners who have been made saints. Christians should confess their sins and seek forgiveness. This ongoing forgiveness does not make us saints, it is because we have been made saints that we want to seek God’s forgiveness and maintain closeness, or intimacy, with God. All people sin. Others need forgiveness. We live in a world of sin. God can be known and experienced as we solicit and receive forgiveness from Him, and as we (when sinned against) forgive as God has us. If forgiveness is absent in life (either the believer with God or the believer with others), then one fails to acknowledge and honor God and one fails to disclose God to others.

Having known God’s forgiveness, but being determined to remain hardened and not forgive others, leads to one’s self-imprisonment and detrimentally affects the lives of others. God will hold accountable those who have benefited from His forgiveness, refuse to be transformed by it, and who alternately live unforgivingly toward others. [See all of Matthew 18:21-35.] It’s as if the forgiven one, by acting unforgivingly, wants to be King, or God. This is clearly evidence of the sinful nature, the flesh, unChristian, and could be seen as evil and demonic.

It seems, though, given the Apostle Paul’s admonitions in Colossians, Ephesians, and elsewhere, that living from the heart God’s forgiveness toward others is severely difficult and almost unnatural. And that’s precisely the point! It is unnatural. It’s supernatural, of God, not of the world or flesh! This is what M’Cheyn acknowledges and confesses to God. This is what the praying person in Matthew 6 confesses, and humbly asks God for the strength to live! You, dear friend, and I cannot live by our own strength the Christian life, life by the principles of God’s graces, nor can we extend forgiveness to another from a closed and hardened heart. You and I must constantly live in humility before God—He is God, not me. Then we can live from humility toward others.

May the graces of God and life of Christ be fully manifest in your heart and given to the world.

Carl



“Chosen not for good in me,
Wakened up from wrath to flee,
Hidden in the Saviour’s side,
By the Spirit sanctified—
Teach me, Lord, on earth to show,
By my love, how much I owe.”

“When in flowery paths I tread,
Oft by sin I’m captive led;
Oft I fall, but still arise—
Jesus comes—the tempter flies:
Blessed Jesus! bid me show
Weary sinners all I owe.”

(Rev. Robert M’Cheyn, d. 1843)