Forgiveness is two-fold; 1) a desire and propensity to release ill-will.
2) a process of actions between offender and/or the offended.
Our own forgiveness relies not only on faith in the promises of God in repentance & baptism, but also on our ability to forgive others who have hurt us or treated us unfairly. Jesus says…
“If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you! But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive you. (Matthew 6:14-15).
An amazing fact about Christ is that Jesus never sinned, even when charged with blasphemy against God and being sentenced to crucifixion as a rival king against Caesar, see Matthew 27:24-25. He still gave his life-blood as a sacrifice for all of our sins, even those who directly wanted him tortured to death. The Jews, and those in the crowd took responsibility for Jesus’ death. Essentially, they said, “charge his death to our account and the accounts of our children.” This text has been incorrectly used over the years as a proof text to justify many of the horrible things Jews have experienced over the years. Since the ones calling for his execution were Jews, they are getting payback for their sin. However, Luke’s gospel destroys that idea. When Jesus was on the cross, he wanted to forgive them, (Luke 23:34) This means he wanted to forgive every person who desired his death and who participated in his death. The truth is he didn’t die because they willed it. He died because he wanted it done as the price of forgiveness. His sovereignty is seen both in the crown of thorns and his resurrection.
Since Christ is our example, how much do we desire to forgive others? Perhaps this is why Christ tells us we must also pick up our cross. (Luke 9:23) Why is it so hard for us to forgive? Perhaps it is because we do not know if our offender wants to be forgiven? But have we searched our offender out and learned if they are sorry & wanting to repent? Jesus worked hard to find people who wanted to repent, see Luke 17:1-6. Even if repentance is repeated 490 times, It is impossible to keep count of this, even with one offender, so we must ask God for greater faith to try this. (Matthew 18:22). We should forgive others because Christ has already forgiven us of so much more! See Ephesians 4:32.
The most refreshing experience we can relate to, is the feeling of freedom from the weight of guilt or a grudge after forgiveness is given. This is reconciliation, the beautiful effect of two people who have been against each other, then actually becoming friends. Do we ask God to help us experience reconciliation? This refreshment is exactly what Peter refers to in Acts 3:19-20. Humans thrive when we experience this with our Creator.
Epaggelia 