Forgiveness

     In my last post, we looked at repentance (please read my post on repentance before reading this.  I now want to turn our attention to the flip side of that coin: forgiveness.  Most time, this is the more difficult of the two.  We expect forgiveness when we ask for it, but when it's required of us, we tend to hold it over the head of our oppressor, or, at least, give a half-hearted "ok", but hold on to the bad feelings that resulted in the offense.
     Forgiveness is not an option either; the scriptures are clear-forgive, or God will not forgive you.  I once had someone ask me "how can I forget, in order to forgive?"  My response was that it's not our job to forget, only forgive.  We often learn by the things we suffer.  Our forgiveness is meant to set the offender free; to give them the opportunity to go forward and do better.  In Section 64, we read this admonition: "My disciples, in days of old, sought occasion against one another, and forgave not one another in their hearts, and for this evil they were afflicted, and sorely chastened; wherefore I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another, for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses, standeth condemned before the Lord, for there remaineth in him the greater sin. I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men; and ye ought to say in your hearts, Let God judge between me and thee, and reward thee according to thy deeds. And he that repenteth not of his sins, and confesseth them not, then ye shall bring him before the church, and do with him as the Scriptures saith unto you, either by commandment, or by revelation. And this ye shall do that God might be glorified, not because ye forgive not, having not compassion, but that ye may be justified in the eyes of the law, that ye may not offend him who is your Lawgiver"  True forgiveness is also fruitage, the movement of the Spirit to do in us, what we, ourselves, are unable to do.  It is a supernatural power that comes to us as we love our Lord, and he puts his love in us.  All gifts from the Lord are meant to be shared, not coveted.
     So, I posed a question at the beginning of my last post: have you ever prayed and felt your prayers stopping at the ceiling, or pray for forgiveness, and know that, by faith you've been forgiven, but still feel guilt?  Repentance and forgiveness are not about forgiving a debt.  This would cause us to look too lightly upon sin.  Repentance and forgiveness are not about ignoring an offense.  This is against the nature of a just God.  Repentance and forgiveness are the means of restoring a right relationship.  For instance: let's say I come over to your house to visit.  While I'm there, I see a fifty dollar bill laying on a table.  When the moment is right, I slip the bill into my pocket.  I justify the theft because I'm in need.  After I've left, you call me to see if I knew where the money went.  I come back, with a sad face, and apologize for taking the money, asking for your forgiveness.  You, as a good Christian forgive me.  Is all done?  NO!!!!  Not until our relationship is restored back to what it was, before the offense!  THIS is the reason we have strife in the body of Christ.  THIS is why we still feel guilt and separation from our God.  Because we haven't spent time developing our relationship, or haven't spent time in restoring that relationship.  I pray the Spirit will fill your heart with this revelation!  Relationships take time and work.  We cannot expect to be one with anyone so long as we fail to work at that relationship.  LOVE is the key. Why is love so powerful?  Because, when you truly love someone, it assesses value to that life.  We each were assessed a value when our Heavenly Father sent his own Son to die for us.  How can we think that anything less is valid.
     This relationship I've spoken of is the qualifying attribute that each of us must strive for if we're ever to enter into that eternal Kingdom.  It's THE means by which we become the body of Christ.  Christ didn't die so that we could go to church; He died so that we could become the church.  May His Spirit unite us to realization that only as we are one, are we His.  God bless.