Unforgiven By Another Name

 "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace" - Ephesians 1:7

Are you thankful that God has forgiven your sins - cleansed you - and restored you to His bosom as his child adopted by grace and mercy? (That was rhetorical) I was thinking about that as I considered the start of a new year.  A lot of talk about New Year's resolutions.  What I am going to do right that I have been doing wrong.  The Jews celebrated the Day of Atonement - the day when their sins  are eradicated and they were freed from the righteous judgement of God - His wrath. They had a clean slate. They were forgiven - progressive forgiveness. (just made that up so don't GOOGLE it!) But that was the Old Covenant. We are under the New Covenant. 

“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,” then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin" - Hebrews 10:16-18

Jesus is the sacrifice that made all of that possible.  You know that, of course. So what are we to do when someone sins against us. Do we forgive them like God forgave us? Keep reading.

"Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do." - Colossians 3:12-13

So how exactly are we supposed to do that? First all commands in the Bible requires submission to the Spirit in us. Forgiveness is a spiritual act. Part and parcel to forgiveness is repentance. It is a "horse and cart" thing. Repentance being the horse - forgiveness the cart.

So let's say someone that you care about sins against you - it doesn't have to be a big sin - though it might be. They repent - meaning they confess - acknowledging their sin - are indeed sorry and ask for forgiveness. You forgive them.  Or at least you think you do. They may never do it again or they might. Do you have a problem with repeated sins - Read Romans 7:14-25 to understand the root of that problem. 

So, at some point in the future, you are in a conversation with someone and the forgiven sin of another is brought up somehow - maybe in their company. At the mere mention of it, you can feel an emotion rise up in you - anger - resentment - hurt - betrayal of a promise. That ever happen to? You really thought that it was over, but your response says otherwise.  

An Elgin axiom: "You know when you have truly forgiven someone when you don't get angry at the mention of their forgiven sin." 

You don't forget about it - but like our sins with God, it is behind you and has been replaced with love. When we deal with spiritual issues with our natural ability, we are bound to fail.  I am an observer of people. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen the countenance of the one who has been offended change at the mention of the past sin against them. Is it because the offender was not repentant or because they had not been truly forgiven.  Only God knows the heart of man - but out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. I can't see the heart, but I can hear that heart.  It makes me sad, frankly. Sad that the person who has been offended has carried that unforgiveness around with them. Unforgiveness is the seed from which bitterness springs.  Sad that the relationship between the two people have lived with a fractured relationship for so long. Pretending that there is not an "elephant in the room".  

Lord help us all! 

Think about it – Pray about it – Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory.

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone