If I do not forgive others, does that mean my sins are not forgiven?

[Dave Sargeant]

Original post from Rick. If I do not forgive does it mean my sins are not forgiven? We ought to forgive weather we do is a different matter. Its very easy to say we forgive but sometimes much harder to mean it. The sin principle was dealt with on the cross. The old nature, still within us putting up a heck of a fight against the new nature will bring up old scores. I had to face the issue of total forgivness some years ago. I had been done out of valuable family heirlooms, given to me when I was about 12, later I took the decision to leave them with my parents until they died. Someone stole them, I know who, a relation. They also got my Dad to change his will, I was ill at the time, very unusual for me, so I was also done out of 10,000 pounds. I was thinking, meditating one day about this issue of forgivness for about a couple of hours. At the end of that time I was able to fully forgive. The unforgiving attitude had bound me for over, at that time, 25 years. I experianced a tremendous release. Since that time about 10 years ago my life has changed. After we become Christians we are forgiven past, present and future sins. If we fully understand the Gospel we should ourselves forgive others. Not to do so could leave us with bitterness in our hearts and unfulfilled work in our lives. Though others have much worse situations to deal with in their lives, the persecuted christians, for instance, than I ever have. Dave

[rodger]

Hi Dave

I Have been struggling with forgiveness for some time now, Sometime my old self reflects with revenge and my new self ask for reasoning I guess time will overcome my negatives as my positives grow in Christ.

[Rick]

Eventually I want to compose a piece on the issue of forgiveness but for today I`ll share a few quick thoughts.

Forgiveness is more about surrending to God`s will then anything else and it is about releasing the poisons created by unforgiveness such as anger, resentment and malice.

Forgiveness in the Biblical context isn`t necessarily the same thing as forgiveness in Western culture. That is why often times people who have suffered great harm have such a struggle with forgiveness. Many times we are taught and are trying to achieve something that the Bible isn`t asking us to reach for.

To forgive the Bible way I must first relinquish all my claims for retribution and turn my enemies over to God in trust of His righteous judgement.

"19Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord."

Secondly I must be prepared to give mercy and reconciliation to my enemies.

"20Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head."

I think we must overlook and forgive,forget the small little things that happen in life. Often times we can hold grudges over things that caused us no real or lasting harm.

But sometimes things happen to us that are very damaging and that cannot be just dismissed because we want to forget about it.

Does not being able to excuse or forget a wrong constitute unforgiveness ?

I don`t believe it does nor do I believe we must just overlook evil deeds done to us or to others.

I release my enemy saying as Paul did "The Lord reward them according to their works." I hold no malice or hatred towards them. I make no claim of vengence against them. The Lord is my avenger. And I am comitted to the mercy that Jesus commands me to have towards them.

However I am not required to just say oh well the evil is ok and overlook it and the damage caused by it. I`m just required to leave it in Gods hands to decide what must be done about it. I have faith that He will reconcile things better then I am capable of doing.

[Dave Sargeant]

Rodger, God bless you in your quest, I hesitate but mabee subjectively an act of will is required.

[Dave Sargeant]

Rick, yes I would agree with you, not sure about small and great things done to us. to dismiss is not the same as to forgive. Can we forgive small and not great? Though it must be almost impossible to forgive some things for some people, child abuse, rape, murder. Though many do.Dave.

[Rick]

Originally Posted by Dave Sargeant

Rick, yes I would agree with you, not sure about small and great things done to us. to dismiss is not the same as to forgive. Can we forgive small and not great? Though it must be almost impossible to forgive some things for some people, child abuse, rape, murder. Though many do.Dave.

I probably could have worded it better but I said both forgive and forget. Dismiss is not the same as forgive but we should do both. That is what God does when he forgives. He also forgets. The scripture says that He removes sin as far as the east is from the rest and He promises us not to remember them.

Things that we have been damaged by, it usually isn`t possible to forget them. And biblical forgiveness is not as diffulcult as forgiveness is in our culture. We are not required to excuse it when we have been sinned against by an unrepentant person. What we are required to do is to give our hurt, anger, malice, etc. over to God and release it to Him. When we turn the responsibility for wrong doing over to God for His purposes then we meet His standard of forgiveness and we release God within our own hearts to fulfill His judgements.

When we are harboring malice towards others we are not trusting God to set things right. I am able to forgive because God is my avenger and He is the One who knows what must be done to set things right.

[Dave Sargeant]

Sorry Rick, forgot the forget. Put it down to old age. Dave.

[dattaswami2]

Originally Posted by Rick

If I do not forgive others, does that mean my sins are not forgiven?
What does Matthew 6:14-15 mean?

Get deceived rather than deceive, get harmed rather than harm


You have to live in this world according to the instructions of the Lord. Regarding your life in this world, the essence of His instruction is that, you should be ‘deceived’ by others and not deceive others, you should be ‘harmed by others but not harm anyone, you should not insult others, but you can be insulted by others, and you should be abused by others but not abuse others. One cannot attain God by doing penance even for centuries. But there is one easiest way to attain God.

When you are deceived by others or when you are harmed by others or when you are insulted by others or when you are abused by others, the Lord comes to your side. It means you have attained God. Therefore, you should thank the people who have deceived, or harmed or insulted or abused you. They have helped you in attaining God by the easiest way. Therefore you should not deceive or harm or insult or scold even such people in return. They might have passed on the punishment to you, for your sins on the will of God. In that case also, they have cleared your sins at an early stage without further interest on the punishment. Even in that way you should thank them.