So, here we go. Why do we need to forgive? Why should we forgive someone who cheated, slandered, stole or wronged us in any one of a million different ways.
Often we did nothing to deserve it, it seems gratuitous from our perspective and may well be; so why should I, who was wronged, forgive the person who afflicted me with their messed up attitude to life?
Basically a choice has been given to us.
Choice A: We choose not to forgive. We are saying that we want justice to be served against the person that has wronged us. And justice will be served if this is what we ask for because what we bind in heaven will be bound on earth and what we loose in heaven will be loosed on earth, we decide what we loose or bind. The flip side is that by doing this we are saying that we “vote” for justice.
Consequently, we must also be served justice each time we do wrong, otherwise we would be hypocrites asking for others to be placed under a system of justice whilst we are exempt from that same system and God doesn’t do hypocrisy.
Choice B: We chose to forgive. We are extending grace and mercy to the person that wronged us. In doing so we are relinquishing our right to justice for the wrong done to us. We are choosing to release grace and mercy. The effect is that we also place ourselves under that same regime and submit our lives to the scrutiny of grace and mercy instead of the scrutiny of justice which requires and eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
The auxiliary benefit of this is a greater chance of producing repentance in the person that has wronged you. It will be God’s kindness, manifested through you, that will lead them to repentance.
Unforgiveness binds a person to the consequences of their sin but also binds you to the consequences of yours.
When you forgive you place yourself under a system of grace. When you don’t forgive you place yourself under a system of justice.
Forgiveness can also be considered as a love offering to God. Most of us forgive out of obedience to God or out of love for God, not always out of love for the person we are forgiving. Love often comes later when healing has been obtained. When you set someone free by forgiving them, it costs you something because it is rarely easy to forgive someone who has truly hurt you. That cost is an offering pleasing to God. It’s a sacrifice and fire always falls on sacrifice. When we forgive we can expect grace, mercy and forgiveness from God in return.
Forgiveness makes agreement with heaven over a person’s identity and empowers that person to be who they are. It defines a person according to God’s word as being made in the image of God. It says “YOU HAVE” committed adultery, murder or lied etc. Judgement is made of their actions but their identity is defined by the word of God. It is o.k. to disagree with a person’s actions but not to define them according to them.
Unforgiveness makes agreement with hell over a person’s identity. It judges a person’s identity. It defines them according to their actions, it says “YOU ARE” an adulterer, a liar, a murderer etrc. and dis-empowers that person to be who they are, binding them to a false identity that is defined by their sin or errors.
- – Guilt points the finger of accusation. Condemnation brings us to the seat of judgement.
– Conviction points out our need of Jesus. Repentance leads us to the mercy seat.
– Without the blood of Jesus our only option is judgement.
More on forgiveness, good article by Laurie Coobs: https://www.ibelieve.com/faith/9-keys-to-biblical-forgiveness.html