So this morning I taught Sunday School at the church we are partnered with this month.
I chose to talk on the topic of Forgiveness and did a good bit of research and decided I may as well blog about as well.
Forget what you have previously though about forgiveness. Instead, consider the greek word Aphesis, or in english, release. It isn’t any more complicated than that. Release.
Forgiveness is to choose someone you’ve been holding in bitterness or resentment and releasing them. Forgiveness is not calling something that someone else did that was immoral or destructive ok. It is not turning a blind eye toward injustice. Forgiveness simply means that you choose to release somebody from personal obligation to you.
In Matthew 18 Peter asks Jesus how man times a person should forgive. In response Jesus tells a parable. There was a man who owed a King ten thousand talents. The man was on the verge of having to sell his wife and children into slavery in order to pay for the debt. The man pleaded with the King, and the King chose to cancel his debt. The man then went to someone who owed him only one hundred denarii and treated him cruelly. When the king heard he grew angry and asked how the man could not show mercy for something so mall after being forgiven so much. He then takes back the forgiveness he showed and puts the debt back in place. Jesus ended by saying that this is how the Heavenly Father will treat each of us unless we forgive our brother from the heart.
Forgiveness is release – being released by God, and then being able to release other people in our lives.
I had never really though of forgiveness as being release. However, while preparing for today and doing the research it really made sense to me. Also, not only are we releasing the people who have wronged in one way or another, but we are in fact finding our own release.
When we harbor bad feelings or resentment to other people we carry that weight in our hearts. It is so easy for it to leak into other areas and put a tarnish on the way we look at things and feel things.
Believe me though, I understand that forgiveness is not an easy thing to do by any means. It can be so hard to do. Forgiveness wasn’t meant to be easy though. The best picture that has been painted of forgiveness is that of Jesus Christ on the cross. So yes, forgiveness can be the hardest and the gutsiest thing you can do in your life. Do you think it was easy for Jesus to die for us? No, but that was the price that had to be paid so that each and everyone of us could experience the forgiveness, mercy, and grace of God.
Forgiveness is not for the faint of heart. Forgiveness is the mark of the true man and the true woman of God. As Christians, how can we choose to withhold our forgiveness when we ourselves have been forgiven so much?
So it’s been really interesting and also good for my heart to look at this in a different way. It’s funny how sometimes when we are delivering a message for others sometimes it can speak to us more than it might speak to anyone else. That though we are teaching on it, we are learning from it. It’s an irony that’s pretty incredible.
And it is so true that we will be released as well. I have felt the weight of resentment and I have felt the change when I forgave and gave it back to God. It’s completely worth it even though it can be so hard.
So, I left the church with a challenge this morning and I think I will leave the same challenge for anyone who may be reading this blog. Is there anyone in your live that you have been holding a grudge against or resentment toward for something they’ve done to you? It may be a few hours old, a few days, or even a few years. It’s never to forgive so look in your heart and pray about why you have held on so long and if you are ready for the blissful release that you can feel by forgiving that person.
I hope you are all having a great Sunday praising our Lord! Thanks for reading!
