Love Your Enemy 3: Forgive

Forgiveness is hard.

Here's something for you to think about.  Why couldn't God just forgive sin?  Why did anybody have to die about it?  Couldn't God just forgive it and it be over with?

Maybe.  Or maybe such a question comes from a misunderstanding of forgiveness.

Forgiveness costs.  In an ultimate sense, it costs.  Say you stole something, five dollars from your friend.  To forgive you, that friend has to incur the cost of five dollars.  It cost that person five dollars to forgive you.  That person cannot just forgive you and not have to eat that five dollars.

God is the same way.  God is forgiving, but God is also just.  If God were to forgive you without incurring that cost, he would sacrifice his justice for the sake of his forgiveness.  But he is just and he is forgiving at the same time.  So he pays the price so that his justice and his mercy are fulfilled at the same time.

Forgiveness for you is the same way.  You can't "just let it go."  It hurts you to forgive, even if you don't realize it immediately.  Jesus said if someone asks for forgiveness seventy times seven times, we should forgive.  He was probably being facetious, but I think it's obvious we should always forgive.  And maybe that means we become people of sorrows, just as he was.

But the joy comes in the morning.

When teaching his disciples to pray, Jesus said "forgive our sins as we forgive those who sin against us."  In forgiveness, we release the other person to collect their ultimate dues and we don't drag ourselves down with them.  Unforgiveness is like eating poison and expecting the other person to die.

What I Want to do I dont

Consider Romans 7 ESV

15 I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

How harsh life can be, to know what you want to do, but be inexplicably unable to do it. This problem faces me almost daily. For instance, I know I should read the Bible, contemplate it's words and teachings, and pray for understanding and help. I know to do these things, I know how to do these things, but it remains that I consistently fail to do these things.

That is why faith in Jesus is so important. To rely on him is more than just an idea or a concept, it is something that needs to be practiced. It is not as though I am asking to lift a car off someone, all I need is to have time and necessity to read and pray. These are the key to understanding the rest of what needs to take place for me to have a true relationship with Christ. Fortunately, I think He has a plan for all this. He gives me trials until I have no other choice to seek him because I know He is the only thing that can relieve my pain.

And hopefully He'll give me the ability to write a blog that interests more people than just me.

God save you, if it is right that He should do so.
WiredForStereo