Forgiveness

Forgiveness First

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Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Matthew 18:21

In answer to his question, Jesus told  a story about a king who forgave a servant. Though the servant in Jesus’ story got things all wrong let’s take a look at what he could have gotten right.

The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’  Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt  Matthew 18:26-27

Just as in our Christian lives, this man’s relationship to the king began by and was entirely based on the forgiveness of his king. Everything hinged on the king’s choice to forgive and accept. Sadly this servant tried right away to make things right by his own efforts Notice he says, “I will pay all.” How many of us determine that we will somehow make it up to God, when in fact we could never ever even in millions of years ever pay God back for all He has done for us!

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Our forgiveness is complete! The Bible tells us that the king “released him and forgave him the debt” His forgiveness was not based upon his ability to repay. Forgiveness wasn’t a business decision with terms of repayment. The debt was not only released but the king also took upon himself the responsibility to pay these debts. That is what Jesus has done. When we really understand His mercy then our hearts will change both towards God and others. When His compassion flows into us we need to allow it to flow out to those who owe us any debt!

God sees to the Horizon

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Then his brothers also went and fell down before his face, and they said, “Behold, we are your servants.” Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good,… Genesis 50:18-20a

Way back at the beginning of the story of Joseph’s life and dreams he hoped his brothers would listen to him. But here many years later we see that God had worked in Joseph’s heart to the point where it was Joseph who had learned to listen to them. He who had interpreted the dreams of a king had a more difficult task at hand, to listen to the fears of his brothers. Joseph had never been accepted. He was born to a different mother, he had been given a different robe, a different position and later an entirely different set of life’s experiences. But at the end of the day the deepest lesson Joseph had learned was to forgive his brothers and to see it all as good in the hands of God.

Have there been life altering circumstances brought into your life as the result of the sins of others? Have you been talked about, unjustly accused and suffered legal consequences all because of a lie? All of that and more happened to Joseph and yet God had chosen those exact situations to work together for good. And the most amazing thing of all about God’s goodness is not just that he turned his brothers’ sin into good in Joseph’s life, but that He also turned everything around for the good of even those brothers!

“God is good all the time” we often shout in church. But while we often think first of God being good to us we need to remember that he also wants to be good to our enemies. Jesus told us to forgive our enemies and Joseph shows us that we can also learn to listen to them. Take this moment to sincerely pray and ask Godimg_3260 if He has put someone in your life who has caused you pain, who you should be listening to and forgiving just as Joseph did. Choose now to forgive because God means it all for good: everyone’s good. We may see only the barriers of the bad things that they have done but God sees beyond to the horizon!!