Out of the Fire
Practical Insights for the Passionate Christian
Lee Ann Rubsam
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Out of the FirePractical Insights for the Passionate Christian |
Lee Ann Rubsam |
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Forever ForgivenForgiveness. It is a powerful word, whether we are on the giving or receiving end of it. We Christians have been taught all our lives that Jesus forgives every sin, and that we must forgive our fellow man as well. Still, there seems to be a lot of confusion in many minds about how it all works. In this article, I would like to address Father's forgiveness for us, and our forgiveness for others. When Jesus cried his last words from the cross, "It is finished!" sin and its curse were from that moment forever cancelled. The problem for some of us, however, is that in our minds we do not yet understand that our forgiven sin truly is finished. Perhaps it is because we have not been successful in forgiving ourselves. Or, it could be that we have not received right teaching about how forgiveness really works. Under the Covenant of the Law, sin was kept covered, or hidden, by the continual offering of animal sacrifices. You have forgiven the iniquity of your people; you have covered all their sin. -- Psalm 85:2 But merely covering sin was never God's true plan for dealing with it. It was only a shadow-symbol of better things to come (Hebrews 10:1). Hebrews 10:11 tells us, "And every priest stands daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sin." When Jesus died for us, a new remedy for guilt was put in place. Sin was no longer covered, but was once and for all washed away. But this man [Jesus], after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God .... For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are sanctified. -- Hebrews 10:12, 14 How does the distinction between covered sin and washed sin make any difference to Christians today? There is a vast difference, and whether we latch onto this truth or not will affect how we view ourselves and others. If we have the mentality of our sins being merely covered, we may still feel condemned over what we have done, even though we have sincerely asked God to forgive us. We think of our sins as still being there, but just hidden. And we like to keep taking a peek under the covering. If, however, we get hold of the "washed" mentality, we realize our sin is erased, gone, nonexistent. There is no covering to peek under, and there is nothing to look at anymore. What a freedom this brings to how we view ourselves and our relationship with God! God had the "washed plan" in mind for us all along, and He even talked about it in the Old Testament: As far as the east is from the west, so far he removed our transgressions from us. -- Psalm 103:12 God wants His children to know in the deepest places of our hearts that once we repent of sin it is completely washed away by Jesus' blood. It isn't hiding under a cover anymore, waiting to be dredged up and used as a hammer over our heads. From the point of repentance onward, we can rest assured that it is finished as far as He is concerned. Any guilt we feel from that point on is not coming from Him and need not be entertained. To better understand the difference between Old Covenant covered sin and New Covenant washing away of sin, study Hebrews 9:11 - 10:18. Holding offense toward others Because Jesus paid the supreme price to wash away our every sin, He expects us to forgive those who offend us as well. We are to be like Him and forgive others, no matter how deeply they hurt us. Jesus said to His disciples, "It is impossible but that offenses will come ..." (Luke 17:1). Offenses are a reality for all of us. Sometimes we are on the receiving end, but it's hard to avoid sometimes being the perpetrator, no matter how carefully we tread. What should we do when we experience offense? When we have truly been sinned against, it must be taken care of according to the process in Matthew 18:15-17 -- going to the person and clearing the air over what has happened, so that forgiveness can be requested and duly given. There are times when what offends us is not really sin on the other person's part, so much as an oversensitivity in us. Because we all tick differently, what bothers one person may not be a problem at all for another. For this reason, an offender may not even be aware of causing harm, and therefore doesn't know there is a need to ask forgiveness. Even the kindest people can at times be unwitting tools in the enemy's hands to create a festering wound inside of us. We can graciously talk these things through: "You said something to me the other day that bothered me. I was wondering if we could talk about it." By talking it out, you may find that the other person did not mean what you thought he said. He may have been preoccupied with something else, and did not intend to be impatient with you. You may find out the person realized he had said the wrong thing, but was too embarrassed to know how to deal with it. He may be truly sorry to have caused you pain, and forgiveness can easily flow. I am of the opinion that we don't need to be confronting people over every little hurt that comes along, however. Some of us are just too self-oriented, and we need to develop tougher skin! Save the confrontations for things that really matter, and just forgive the little stuff on your own. When we feel ignored, or someone is abrupt with us, most often the other person is simply preoccupied with other matters. No offense is meant, and no offense should be taken. We need to quietly forgive these small matters in our own hearts and let them go. What should we do when someone has truly sinned against us and we have handled the matter according to Matthew 18, but the offender refuses to be sorry for what he has done? It happens, and our response still must be to forgive and let it go. This type of offense is much harder to forgive, but with God's grace it can be done -- and for our own sakes, it must be done. Jesus said, "Whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses" (Mark 11:25, 26). This goes for little, medium, and even Goliath-size hurts! Offenses that are not dealt with hinder the flow of healing, answered prayer, fulfilled promises, and completed destinies. On the other hand, when we forgive an offense, freedom is released into us and into the life of the offender as well. Forgiving in His likeness We said that God not only covered our sin with Jesus' blood; He washed it away. This is also how He wants us to look at other people's sin against us. When God forgives us, He chooses to forget our sin. He wants us to choose not to remember their sin anymore, either. Once we have forgiven them, as far as we are concerned, their sin is erased, not merely covered. We can't peek under a covering at their sin any more than we can for our own forgiven sin. It is gone, and we must treat it that way. This is especially true if the process of asking and giving forgiveness has taken place between us and the one who has offended us. We can be like God in the completeness of our forgiving: Jeremiah 31:34 -- For I will forgive their wickedness, and I will remember their sin no more. We can determine that once we have forgiven an offense, we will never mention it to the offender again. Ezekiel 33:16 -- None of their past sins will be brought up again .... We can decide to forgive -- even if the person does not ask forgiveness -- and choose to forget the offense. This means if we find ourselves at future times thinking again about the hurtful incident, we say, "God, I forgave _____________, and I'm not going to dredge that up again in my mind." Forgiveness is not easy, because our emotions get in the way. But as we keep on choosing to forgive, remind ourselves that we have forgiven, and ask God to take away the hurt from our insides, eventually our emotions line up with our righteous decision to forgive. If you are harboring any unforgiveness toward anyone and you would like to be free, here's a simple prayer of release to help you: Father, I have been hurt so badly by ____________, but I choose to forgive right now. I understand that ____________'s sin against me is now erased, as far as how I must look at it. Please give me grace to not remember the offense anymore, and to love ____________ as though it had never happened. I ask you to take away my hurt, and to set the matter right. Thank You that You are faithful to do the healing in my heart. In Jesus' Name I pray. The Redeeming Power of Forgiveness When we forgive people, we supernaturally release freedom into their lives, so that they can come into their God-given destinies. Even if they are not sorry for what they have done, by forgiving them we prepare the way in the spirit realm for them to hear God speak to them about repentance. This is true because of the law of binding and loosing (releasing), which God has given to His Church: And I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven (Matthew 16:19). Jesus gave us the perfect example of the power of forgiveness to set people free. When He was dying on the cross, He said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). Jesus forgave entirely unrepentant men for the sin they were committing against Him. Some time later, Acts 6:7 tells us that " ... the word of God increased, and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly. And a great number of the priests were obedient to the faith." Very likely, many of these priests had played a guilty part in crucifying Jesus! We don't know how much time went by between the crucifixion and their conversion, but there is a direct connection between Jesus forgiving them from the cross, and their hearts eventually being changed to believe on Him. When we release things upon the earth, according to Matthew 16:19, they are released in heaven. Changes are put into motion in the spirit realm. Those things, in turn, eventually are released back into the earth. Our willingness to forgive those who have harmed us brings blessing, freedom, and godly change into their lives. Forgiveness versus righteous judgment Although we must forgive even when the offender is not repentant, forgiveness does not cancel out God's righteous judgment. God is a just God. He will vindicate the innocent, and He will deal with the guilty. In Exodus 34: 6, 7, God calls Himself, "... The LORD God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and trangression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty." It is our place to make the decision to forgive, but it is God's place to sort out how to deal with the trespasses that have been committed. Some of us have suffered very deep wrongs -- crimes against ourselves and our loved ones that are unthinkable. In the natural world order, we may forgive murderers and molesters who have wreaked havoc in our lives, but their wrongdoing must still be paid for in the criminal court system. Justice will be served. Consequences must be handed out. The need for justice goes beyond criminal court cases in the natural world. When deep offenses take place, and we do our part to forgive, we can leave the injustices we have suffered in God's hands. His sense of fairness is bigger than ours. He knows how to deal with it. You may be thinking, "I forgave ___________, but I don't think I can trust him anymore." Maybe not. Forgiveness does not necessarily bring with it automatic trust. Forgiveness is to be given freely, but reestablishing trust takes time. Not trusting someone does not necessarily mean you are harboring unforgiveness toward him. To hand your wallet to a person who recently pilfered from you would not be wisdom. Neither would it be wise to immediately entrust a betrayer of your deepest secrets with more of the same. Restoration is a process. In summary, know that no matter what your sin against God has been, He forgives you and completely wipes the sin away from you, and from His remembrance, when you truly repent. You are a "new creature in Christ" (2 Corinthians 5:17), washed pure and spotless by Jesus' blood. Out of that purity, you can be like Jesus, forgiving others, even as He did. Jesus is our freedom-giver. He wants us to pass that freedom on to those around us as well. © Copyright 2008 by Lee Ann Rubsam. All rights reserved. |
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