Tag Archives: unforgiveness

Did You Know (4)

Apologetics, , ,

DID YOU KNOW (4)

…That you cannot forgive without compassion.

Many, if not most people struggle to forgive. Some even refuse to forgive the offense of another, choosing to allow bitterness to destroy them and all their relationships rather than to let go and be free.

Someone once said that harbouring unforgiveness is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.

In His model prayer, Jesus highlighted two things that will destroy us. The first is the refusal to forgive.

And forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors (Matt. 6:12).

Forgiving our debtor is the only thing that will free us from being eaten alive from the inside out by our bodies’ response to bitterness. Our bodies, souls, and spirits function as a unit. Our emotions which come out of what we think and believe, produce physical reactions which, if sustained over a long period of time, will gradually destroy our organs and shorten our lives.

God designed our bodies to functional optimally when our hearts and minds are at peace and we can only have sustained peace when we have no issues with God or other people. Jesus took care of our issues with God, removing the barrier of sin and reconciling us to the Father through His shed blood. He also took care of the barrier between us and other people in the same way.

But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far away have been brought near by the blood of Jesus. For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two groups (Jew and Gentile) one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in His flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in Himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross by which He put to death their hostility (Eph. 2:13-16).

He has given us the right and privilege of forgiving our debtors because He has already forgiven all the debt of sin, ours and theirs. When we choose not to forgive, we are punishing them again for the sin that has already been punished.

The second thing that will destroy us is ourself-centeredness and all the ramifications of selfish living.

And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one (Matt. 6: 13).

Unfortunately, misunderstanding of this Scripture has led us to believe that the devil is our main problem. He may influence us towards evil, but we are actually our own worst enemies. We are not Satan’s victims unless we allow Him to control us by believing His lies. Jesus exposed His deception and defeated him at the cross. Our own selfish pride, not the devil, causes us the most trouble. Living in dependence on the Father, not by our own wisdom and wits, will keep us walking in humility and freedom from the destruction we cause ourselves by our arrogant independence.

Let’s go back to the issue of forgiveness. In response to Peter’s question, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus told a story about a king who called his servants to account for the debts they owed him (Matt 18:21-35).

Peter thought he was being magnanimous by forgiving his brother seven times for the same sin. Jesus pointed out that it was not how many times he forgave his brother that was important but how he felt about his brother.

In the story, one servant owed the king such a vast sum of money that he would never be able to repay him in his lifetime. The king demanded payment or he, his wife and children and all his possession would be sold to repay the debt. The servant pleaded for time and promised to pay what he owed.

Imagine the scenario. A servant owed his master more money than he could earn in a lifetime and yet he promised to repay his debt! How would the king react? Would he close his heart to the servant’s plea and make his wife and family also pay for the servant’s folly? The entire story hinges on the next verse.

The servant’s master took pity on him, cancelled the debt and let him go (Matt. 18:27).

Perhaps for a moment the king put himself in the servant’s place. Enslavement for the rest of his life was a horrible alternative. Instead of anger and revenge, his heart was filled with compassion. The servant’s wellbeing meant more to him than the money he owed. He responded to the compassion he felt by forgiving the servant, cancelling the debt and setting him free.

The same servant met a fellow servant who owed him a paltry amount. Instead of responding with the same compassion and mercy the king has shown him, he demanded immediate payment and refused to forgive as his master had forgiven him. Imagine the king’s outrage when he found out what the servant had done. Not only did he recall the debt but he also had the servant jailed and handed over to be tortured until he could pay.

What a terrible end for a man who refused to show mercy! The end to Jesus’ story is a chilling reminder of what happens to those who refuse to forgive.

This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart (Matt. 18:35).

Jesus was not only talking about the consequences of unforgiveness in the life to come. Torment begins now, in this life in many different ways, the physical, emotional and spiritual outcome of holding on to offenses.

The key issue is: How much do you value God’s mercy towards you? If you refuse to forgive, how can He show mercy to you? He must treat you in the same way as you treat others. You cannot expect one standard for God and another for yourself. You set the measure of grace you receive from Him by the way you choose to show grace to others. How do you feel about the one who has harmed you? Jesus shows us how to evaluate people who offend you:

Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing (Luke 23: 34).

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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Twisted and Bent Over

Christian Life, , , , ,

TWISTED AND BENT OVER

“He was teaching in one of the meeting places on the Sabbath. There was a woman present, so twisted and bent over with arthritis that she couldn’t even look up. She had been afflicted with this for eighteen years. When Jesus saw her He called her over. ‘Woman, you’re free!’ He laid hands on her and suddenly she was standing straight and tall, giving glory to God.” Luke 13:10-13 (The Message).

Luke had a special interest in Jesus’ ministry to women in keeping with his purpose of presenting Jesus as the ‘Son of Man’. Women were disrespected in Hebrew culture, treated as inferior to men, and even as a husband’s ‘possession’ to be retained or disposed of at will. By His compassion and care for women which Luke recorded so tenderly, Jesus gave women the dignity and respect accorded them by their Creator.

Knowing full well that healing on the Sabbath would create a furore among the religious leaders, He persistently ignored their scruples and healed whoever was afflicted whenever He had opportunity. This woman was so twisted in body by her disease that she could not even lift her head to look into His face. Perhaps she was not aware of Jesus but He was aware of her, and with His awareness came His spontaneous response to her plight.

His words to her are also surprising. ‘Woman, you are free!’ not ‘Woman, you are healed!’ Was Jesus aware of a deeper reason for her affliction? Of course, all human imperfections are the result of Adam’s original sin, behind which lay the deceiver’s subtle enticement to disobedience, but in this woman’s case, was there something in her life that directly resulted in her enslavement to the physical condition that held her bound for eighteen years?

It is medically attested that 95% of physical conditions are the outcome of stress which is the body’s response to sustained high levels of adrenaline, the ‘fright, flight, fight’ hormone which prepares our bodies in time of crisis. There is one condition that plays havoc and does untold damage to our physical systems, unforgiveness. Every prolonged emotion that flows from our refusal to let go of a real or perceived offense does damage to us and not to the person against whom we hold our grievances.

Jesus often warned of the consequences of unforgiveness, the most drastic and unthinkable being cut off from the Father’s forgiveness. Is this not one of the main reasons why doctors wrestle with physical problems that defy diagnosis, why hospitals and psychiatric facilities are filled with sick people and why our world is overrun with cruelty and violence? The world is full of angry people who do not realise that forgiving those who have hurt them would set them free.

There is powerful symbolic significance in Luke’s descriptive words of her condition – she was twisted and bent over and could not look up. This is what happens to us inside when we refuse to forgive. We cannot look up and see the face of God when we are twisted and bent over by bitterness and hate. Only the presence and words of Jesus can set us free so that we can stand up and look up.
Jesus changed this woman’s life with a few words. ‘Woman, you are free!’ In them she found forgiveness for her own sin and release from the anger and bitterness with which unforgiveness had poisoned her body and her life. She stood upright and gave glory to God. What a moment!

Is it possible that you can also experience spiritual and physical healing when you become aware of His presence, hear the words of Jesus in your heart, feel His touch and receive the forgiveness which will free you to forgive others? This is the key to your healing.