Friday, January 21, 2011

On Forgiveness


"And when you stand praying, forgive, if you have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses" Mark 11:25-26

I was looking for an "out" regarding the whole praying and forgiveness issue and I was thinking it would be okay to pray sitting, or even better kneeling or prostrate. Then I discovered the meaning of the word stand as it is used in this passage. It is translated from the Greek word steko which means, "to stand firm; to persevere, to persist; to keep one's standing". Then I thought of Psalms 66:18, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." Could it be that unforgiveness counts as iniquity in my heart? Jesus absolutely forbids unforgiveness. Certainly, a true Christian will not lose their standing as a child of God or their access to God, but the Bible is very clear that there are things that cut off communication with our Father.

Are you persevering and standing firm in prayer? Do you feel as though God does not hear those prayers or answer those prayers you have been praying for weeks, months or even years? I know I have some of those. There can be several reasons for that, but I think it would serve us well to investigate the possibility of unforgiveness and bitterness in our hearts. On a very personal note, I have recently been surprised at some of the ugliness that has been revealed in my heart. Certain events in my life have pried open the mouth of a concealed well of bitterness and anger so that those rivers of living water are competing with, well, sewer water! Yuck.

This morning as I was praying about how in the world to have complete victory over unforgiveness, a verse came to mind. "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Those were the words of Jesus as he hung on the cross. He uttered these words after being unjustly and severely beaten, mocked, humiliated and AS he was enduring a most painful form of death. I have previously realized that I have no right to hold unforgiveness in my heart if perfect Jesus forgives all things and endured all that he did. That in itself is a huge motivation for forgiveness. But apparently I need more motivation as I continue to struggle with "repeat offenders," especially those offenses that deeply hurt.

This morning when that verse came to mind, it begged a different question. Rather than the usual, how do I have the right to hold unforgiveness in my heart, it was the question of how could Jesus say they didn't know what they were doing? Of course they knew. They knew he was a just man. In all likelihood, many of them knew who he really was, their Messiah. They knew he did not deserve death. They knew they beat him and mocked him and humiliated him and crucified him unjustly. They absolutely knew what they were doing. Yet Jesus said they did not.

Jesus understood better than any could that the events of those days were fueled by a cosmic battle, a struggle so huge that the majority of the fight could not and would not be observed by the human eye. He understood that the people who hated him and acted so harshly on that hate were driven by unseen forces in the most intense battle of Good versus Evil. "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood." (Ephesians 6) I believe Jesus could look at them and have compassion on them because he understood this intense battle and its effect on them and because he knew who they were apart from the sin that had them in its grip as a result of that battle.

And so it is with us. It is true we have no right to hold unforgiveness. There are, however, in each of our lives those situations that demand we continually revisit this issue of forgiveness. It is those repeat offenses that produce deep pain that result in deep and sometimes hidden wells of unforgiveness and bitterness despite our best attempts to cut off the supply to those wells. What are we to do with that? How can we pray effectively and run the race unencumbered by the "weight and sin"? I defer to my life verse, "With man this is impossible but with God all things are possible." The Bible says it is God who works in us both to will and to do his good pleasure.

So here is my prayer. God, work in me both to will and to do what you have shown me about forgiveness. Not only do I need to relinquish my perceived right to be offended, but I need to understand the offenders as Jesus understood his offenders. Help me be able to honestly say, "Father, forgive _________, for they know not what they do." And may others find the grace to say the same of me when I am the offender.

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