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Woburn, MA 01801

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Beverly, MA 01915

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I Choose To Forgive

by Michael Davis on February 20, 2014

Is it easy for God to forgive sins?  I’ve been wrestling with this question for a while because one of the things I hear a lot from people is this – ‘It’s just so hard for me to forgive that person for what they’ve done to me.’

Does God say that sort of thing about us?  When we seek forgiveness from God for our sin against Him, does He struggle to forgive us?  Some might say – ‘Not a fair comparison because God is God and well, we’re not.’  True – we are not God, but I wonder if we might learn something about forgiveness from God?

God forgives.  He does not think about forgiving someone, He forgives them.  For God, there is no going back and forth as to whether or not forgiveness should be given.  God forgives – not because we begged for it, not because we were worthy of it, not because of anything we ever could or would do.  God forgives because forgiveness is consistent with His character… with who He is.

Forgiveness has to do with vision.  Meaning, if you are a Christian, a follower of Jesus and you sin and seek God’s forgiveness, He does not see you nor does He see your sin (no matter what that sin is).  God sees Jesus.  He sees Jesus in you.  He sees that His Son has paid the penalty for ALL your sin.  Dare I say, it’s easy for Him to forgive because when God sees you, He sees one whose life is hidden in His Son Jesus.

Forgiveness has already taken place.  Meaning, because of faith in Jesus, I’m already forgiven.  In theological terms, because of Jesus, I have been declared right before God – I have been justified because of Jesus.  Simply put, this means that ALL of my sins – past, present and future sins have already been forgiven!  So when I seek forgiveness from God – He does not have to think twice about or struggle to grant forgiveness.  He has already done that.    Ultimately, when I sin, I’m not going to God hoping to get something from Him (forgiveness), I am going to Him in confession wanting to experience something that He’s already given me – His forgiveness.

What might I (we) learn about forgiveness from God?

1.  Choose to forgive.  To withhold forgiveness from those that have hurt us would be inconsistent with who we are as children of God.  I choose to forgive, not because the person in the wrong has groveled long enough begging for my forgiveness.  No, I forgive because I have been forgiven.  I chose to give to others the same forgiveness that’s been given to me, and not begrudgingly, but joyfully because that reflects best the forgiveness God has given to us.

2.  Choose to see Jesus.  When I struggle to forgive someone, that more reflects my inability to see Jesus in that person.  Yes, they may have hurt you – maybe even intentionally.  Rather than looking at the one who hurt you, look for something different.  Ask God to give you eyes to see that person as He sees them.  And when He sees them, He sees one who has been made in His image… He sees one who He gave His Son for.  Cast your vision not upon them, or what they’ve done, but upon Jesus and ALL He’s done to secure forgiveness for this person.

3.  Choose today to forgive tomorrow.  People will hurt you.  If you have yet to determine how you will respond to those that hurt you, you will forever walk around not trusting, not loving and certainly not forgiving.  To me – that would be a miserable existence.  Make the decision today that forgiveness is not something that you’ll think about once someone asks you for it, rather, choose to forgive the hurts of tomorrow right now.  So when people ask you to forgive them for hurts/wrongs done, they will enter into something that has already been granted.

The most gracious and forgiving people I know are the most joyful people I know.  They are not walking around hurt, plotting out how they could get back at the ones who hurt them and they are not walking around obsessing over what they’d like to say when given the chance to give the one who hurt them a piece of their mind. 

No – those who choose to forgive in essence are making a choice to be filled with joy.  As for me, I choose to forgive.