Beyond Forgiveness

God has been teaching me a lot about forgiveness lately. I always considered myself a forgiving person but He is showing me a completely new meaning of forgiveness. It amazes me to think about the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. He has completely washed away all of my sins and He took on the punishment that should have been mine. I deserve God's wrath and Hell but God gave me the exact opposite - His grace and forgiveness.

In Colossians 3:12-14 Paul tells us "Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony." Paul says to "put on" these actions, meaning that we have to choose to do each of these things, it is not a natural part of our flesh to act in this way. He tells us to forgive others like Christ has forgiven us. Forgiveness goes against our sinful nature so it doesn't come natural for us to forgive others the way Christ has forgiven us. When God forgives us He doesn't hold any grudges, he doesn't have bitterness towards us or our sin, and He shows us love and grace. This is how we are called to forgive.

I have been reading "Calm My Anxious Heart" by Linda Dillow, which I highly recommend! She says "For the Christian, forgiveness is not an option. Jesus commanded us to forgive; He modeled forgiveness for us. Failure to forgive not only wounds our Savior but it destroys us. A lack of forgiveness causes the bitterness plant to take root in our hearts." When we choose to hold on to grudges and have bitterness towards others we are being disobedient to God.

Dillow also says we must go beyond forgiveness. When she had an issue with another person she says that she decided to pray that God would bless her and seek to do "acts of love and acts of kindness". This is something that I have tried to do in the past and it really does change the way you feel about a person who has wronged you. When you see others through Christ's eyes and begin to have a forgiving heart, He will give you compassion, care, and love for them that will lead you to doing good to them despite what you think they deserve.

A few months ago I read about a woman who lives in Asia. Besides her mother, she was the only Christian in her village. They were constantly ridiculed because of their faith and when her mother became terminally ill the people in their village blamed it on their belief in God. After her mother passed away she felt alone but still was faithful to God. One day she was told that some of the officials had broken into her home and stolen her Bible and burned it. However, before the Bible was destroyed it began to rain and put out the fire! (How awesome is our God!) When she came back home and found her Bible nearly destroyed she said "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." How amazing is that? She said the exact same words that Jesus said when He was being crucified in Luke 23:34. I know that would not be my reaction to people who destroyed something that was so special to me. However, God has reminded me of her words so much lately and it has really challenged me to learn how to forgive like Christ forgave me.