Most of us have heard of “To err is human; to forgive, divine.” Forgiveness is a beautiful thing. It is that which allows us to start with a clean slate. When I first came to Jesus Christ, I approached Him with the limited knowledge of His atoning death on the cross for my sins.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son – so loved that He gave His only begotten Son. The gift of forgiveness is very costly. It cost the death of Jesus Christ FOR. YOUR. SINS. When we come to God fully convinced of this, we simply dump the weight of our sins on Him. At least this was what happened to me. I lived a life given into the ways of the world with my conscience far from being active. Even though my deeds lined up with the world’s definition of fun, it yielded nothing but misery (Romans 6:21).
“This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
Matthew 26:28
As you can see, it cost Jesus His blood for our sins to be forgiven. To be able to forgive repeated and prolonged offenses (especially those spanning decades) is no easy task. It will cost you and to be put in this situation is to be able to have an experiential grasp on the weight of your own sins that Jesus Christ bore on the cross for you in order to be forgiven.
“I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins.”
Isaiah 43:25
God’s love is such that He not only forgives, He chooses to forget your sins. He made the way to satisfy His justice through the sacrifice of Jesus. Since we are not God, it is going to be hard to forget and this is why we need His Holy Spirit to empower us (Galatians 5:22) in order to be able to accomplish the divine task of forgiving which is a combination of love (1 Peter 4:8) and forbearance.
“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”
John 15:5
“But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
Matthew 6:15
One cannot truly forgive unless they have truly been forgiven. Jesus is the standard of forgiveness. Are you weighed down by the heaviness of unforgiveness? Jesus longs to lift that burden off your shoulders. Surrender your burden at His feet and be reconciled to God today.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
2 Corinthians 5:17-21
Forgiveness is truly a gift because it is maybe easy to say but really hard to do. It is faced with a situation when the mind and heart may have conflicting stand.
So very true. When we are resolved on the fact that Jesus forgives us freely, with the Holy Spirit’s help, yielding to do what is right becomes bearable. I think most of us really struggle with the forgetting aspect since our brains are meant to remember and for good reason- to testify to the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit to be able to endure all things.