Is Forgiveness Really Necessary?

8/14/2019 Is Forgiveness Really Necessary?

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Forgiveness

Forgiveness is defined as "the act of pardoning an offence committed."

Forgiveness is an important part of any meaningful relationship. As human beings

we are all fallible, and despite our best efforts and intentions, we will dothings that hurt someone else. We all need forgiveness for things we do in hurtothers. When someone hurts us our natural reaction is to lash out and hurt back.It takes a stronger person to forgive than to attack back.

Offering true forgiveness to someone who has hurt you ultimately helps you andthe relationship.

Forgiving the person is different than forgiving the act that caused the hurt.

Sometimes an understanding of the person who caused you pain is helpful in theforgiving process. Perhaps the person who wronged you is a product of their pastenvironment. An unresolved childhood issue, an incorrect belief system, poormodeled behaviors, or the pain of abandonment or betrayal in their past creates anatmosphere that can easily repeat itself in relationships with others. Rememberthe cliche that says "Hurt People Hurt People."

Seeing the person who wronged you as someone who has a good side as well as a badside often helps in the act of forgiving. This does not mean that we need tocontinue to tolerate a cycle of poor behaviors that causes us hurt. But separatingthe person from the act that caused the pain can help us to forgive.

1. Forgiveness Is a Choice

"It's not a matter of how you feel," says Harold Graham. "It's not even a matterof how you think. It's a matter of your will. Your will is the part of you thatmakes your decisions. Either you will or you won't, or you do or you don't. It isthat cut and dried. The difficulty is once you make that decision, your emotionswill kick in and say, 'Time out, I really don't want to do this.'"

If you can let go and forgive, you will experience great freedom.

Nell Ann says, "He didn't deserve forgiveness. He didn't ask for it, and he didn'twant it. I thought, Why should I forgive him? Finally I realized it was not forhim. It was for me."

The choice is peace or bitterness.


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Cindy shares what she learned about forgiveness: "Forgiveness is the hardest thingin the world. I felt like my heart and gut had been ripped out and thrown againstthe wall and left for dead. When I met with the pastor, I said, 'I can't forgivehim. This is too hard for me.' He said 'Let's look at it like a business deal.Let's say your husband owes you ten thousand dollars. Let's say he can never payyou back this ten thousand dollars. Forgive the debt. Just forgive the debt andmove on. It doesn't mean you have to go back and do business with him.'"

Choose to forgive the debt. The person who wronged you cannot repay you for allthe hurt and pain. But if you choose to not forgive a spirit of bitterness willdevelop in you.

Forgive the debt and accept the freedom that comes with forgiveness. There aretimes when it may seem that you cannot forgive a person for what they have done.It is then that you need to ask God to help you forgive.

"But with [God] there is forgiveness" (Psalm 130:4).

2. Forgiveness Is Not Pretending You Weren't Hurt

Laura Petherbridge says, "Forgiveness is such a complex issue because it appearsas though you're letting the other person get away with the offense. If youforgive, it feels as though you are saying, 'My wound isn't real. This stab to myheart and the pain of rejection isn't significant.'"

Your wounds are real, and they are important to God. He never wants to see youhurt. You do not need to make excuses for your feelings or pretend to other peoplethat you were not hurt that badly. This behavior does not solve anything. Be

honest. You were hurt, and it's lousy. But physical and emotional wounds shouldnot keep you from forgiveness.

"How do you forgive when you've been hurt so badly?" says Jan Northington."Forgiveness comes in knowing the facts and being willing to let them go.Forgiveness is the only thing that allows you the kind of peace that will turnyour mind from injustices in your life toward God."

Remember the greater the hurt; the greater the blessing of peace that will come tothe one who forgives!

"But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you"(Matthew 5:44).

3. Forgiveness Does Not Mean Trust

Forgiveness does not mean you have to trust the other person again. Forgivenessand trust are different entities, and neither one is dependent on the other.


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"Trust is giving a person the benefit of the doubt that he or she is not going tobehave a certain way in the future," says Harold Graham. "Whereas, forgiveness issimply setting down the load, never to pick it up again. Two totally differentthings."

Sue says, "One simple but great revelation to me was the fact that learning to

forgive did not mean I had to trust again. It seemed like such a basic concept,but there was so much anger that I was not able to see that until I heard otherpeople share it. Once I started praying and meditating on that fact, it had a bigpart in my healing."

Trust is something that needs to be earned, especially if the other person hasbroken your trust at some point. Learning to trust another person again can take along time, and sometimes you will never trust that person because he or she maycontinue to betray your trust. God, on the other hand, can always be trusted. Hewill not betray you or let you down, and He can teach you to forgive.

"Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsakenthose who seek you" (Psalm 9:10).

4. Forgiveness Is Obeying God

In the Bible, God commands everyone to forgive. Harriet chose to be obedient toGod, and she discovered that God miraculously transforms the lives of those whochoose to obey.

"The first time I said, 'Lord, I really want You to help me forgive,' what I wassaying wasn't registering in my heart. The only reason I did it was because I knewit was something that God wanted me to do.

"Well, our Lord is in the business of miracles, and He is in the business ofchanging hearts. While I can't say that I've completely let go of the anger, thehatred, the resentment, and the bitterness, with each new day my Father is helpingme to get rid of those things in my life. You know what else? I'm finding more andmore that when I'm saying, 'Lord, please help me to forgive my husband and hismistress,' I'm not just giving lip service. I'm finding that He who createschanges in people's hearts is hard at work creating a change in my heart.

"A year ago I would have gleefully hired a hitman to take both of them out of the

picture. No more. I just want Jesus to find them because I know that the paththey're on is one they will never return from. I know the only hope in this worldfor all of us is through the love of Jesus Christ."

Choose to forgive in obedience to God.It is not just an arbitrary command that Godgives us when He asks us to forgive others. It is actually for our own benefit.

You see the person who gains the most from forgiveness is the person who does theforgiving!


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"When you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so thatyour Father in heaven may forgive you your sins" (Mark 11:25).

5. Forgiveness and Reconciliation

Forgiveness and reconciliation are not the same thing. It is important to know thedifference so that when you do forgive someone, you do not automatically expect tobe reconciled in some way.

Doug Easterday says, "Forgiveness is getting your heart right with God.Reconciliation is getting your heart right with people."

"Forgiveness is letting go of the burden," says Harold Graham, "and reconciliationis renewing or redefining a relationship."

The Bible says that you should live in peace with other people and that you shouldmake every effort to do so. Living peaceably with others starts with forgiveness--holding no grudges, anger, or bitterness against that person. Yes, reconciliationis ideal, but not always possible. People can get hurt by rushing to reconcileafter forgiveness has taken place. Sometimes living in peace means leaving theother person alone for a while and not aggravating the situation.

If your former spouse is NOT showing genuine remorse, says Doug Schmidt,acknowledging wrong behavior, showing a willingness to bear the burden of thedamage, and doing everything humanly possible to correct the behavior, then yes,you are still required to forgive. But the next step would be to back off andprotect yourself from further damaging behaviors. Do not equate forgiveness withreconciliation.

"Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutualedification" (Romans 14:19).

"Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?" (Amos 3:3).

6. Forgiveness Is Always Undeserved

If your former spouse or someone else has hurt you deeply, you might beentertaining thoughts of how that person will realize his or her wrongs and comeapologize and try to make things right. You may feel that the other person needsto do this before you will forgive.

Forgiveness, though, means you do not hold the other person accountable to you tomake things right. In forgiveness, you give the person to God and let God be theone he or she answers to.


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Howard says, "I felt that in order to be able to forgive her, she needed to repentfirst. I wanted her to grovel. I wanted her to say, 'I did you wrong. This was aterrible thing I did to you.'"

Howard continues, "On the cross when God said, 'Forgive them for they know notwhat they do,' He was offering forgiveness and no one was repenting. No one wassorry. They were wagging their heads, crying out with slurs. In the midst of it He

was able to forgive, even when no one around Him was repenting. It was an amazingthing. I have to be able to do that, and if someone wants to take my forgiveness,it's up to that person."

When Jesus was on the cross, he forgave all the horrid things people were sayingand doing to Him. He continued to forgive them even when their spiteful words andactions didn't stop.

"When they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him. . . .Then Jesus said, 'Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do'" (Luke23:33-34).

7. Taking Responsibility for Your Actions and Attitudes

Forgiveness is when you refuse to let the other person's actions and attitudesdictate your actions and attitudes.

Selma shares, "It finally hit me that when I had been saying, 'I forgive him forwhat he did to me,' I was not really forgiving him. Inside, I was thinking, Yes, Iassume some responsibility for all of this, but I wouldn't have done it if hehadn't done whatever he did to me first. Regardless of what he did to me, the way

I responded to him was totally my responsibility, not his."

When you say you accept some of the responsibility for things that have happened,are you sure your actions and attitude are reflecting your words? Forgiveness andtaking responsibility involve more than saying the right words. They are bothactions. Think about what actions you can take that will show you have forgiventhe other person and that will show you are taking responsibility for yourself.

"Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud. . . . Do not repay anyone evilfor evil. . . . If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace witheveryone. . . . 'If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him

something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.' Donot be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good" (Romans 12:16-18, 20-21).

8. Is Forgiveness a One-time Event?

"Forgiveness is a process," says Danny. "You can say to someone, 'I forgive you,'and it's just talk. It's not something you feel like doing. It's something you


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decide to do in order to let it go. No one really wants to forgive when they'rehurting so badly. That feels so alien. Who wants to forgive someone who's hurt youso badly? But when you do forgive, you see that God will not only work in yourlife, but in the other person's."

Forgiveness is a process, not a one-time occurrence. Jesus said to forgive a

person who has wronged you seventy-seven times. He was basically saying to stopcounting. Each time unforgiveness comes up in your heart, you need to choose oncemore to forgive.

"It's a daily thing, going before God and saying, 'Okay, Lord, I forgaveyesterday. Now I need You to help me do it again today," says Laura Petherbridge.

The act of forgiving will be something you will need to choose, apply, andpractice. You can make forgiveness a lifelong habit by training your mind to

reject those thoughts that would cause you to harbor unforgiveness, resentment, orblame.

"Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, 'Lord, how many times shall I forgive mybrother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?' Jesus answered, 'I tell you,not seven times, but seventy-seven times'" (Matthew 18:21-22).

9. What If You Don't Obey God and Forgive?

You may be thinking, What if I choose not to forgive?

"If you don't forgive," says Doug Easterday, "what you're saying by the inferenceof your actions is what that person did to you is more important to you than goingon with God. There isn't anything that someone could do to you that would be moreimportant than going on with your personal relationship with Jesus Christ."

If you don't forgive, you create a barrier between God and you. Holdingunforgiveness in your heart is a sin. Dr. Myles Munroe says, "If you don'tforgive, you cannot even pray. So if you are divorced and you still harborbitterness in your heart toward that person who was in your relationshippreviously, then you have literally cut off your relationship with God. You have

hindered your prayer life, and there is therefore no way you can actually ask Godto heal that person or change that person because He can't even get through toyou.

What happens if you choose not to forgive?

* Forgiveness is the key to getting on your way to healing because God can only


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heal you if He can reach you, and He can only get to you if you have forgiven theperson who hurt you."

* You are blocking yourself from the power of answered prayer when you choose notto forgive.

* If you do not forgive, you may get in the way of the work God is trying to do inthe other person's life.

* God cannot forgive you if you do not forgive others.

"Early in my divorce process," says Laura Petherbridge, "I was thinking of people

I know who have gone through divorce and years later are still very bitter. Iprayed, 'God, I don't want to end up a bitter woman, but I don't know how to letit go because the hurt is so deep. Please show me how to resolve this resentment.'

"I learned to pray for the 'other woman,' which probably seems like an impossiblething. It was not by my own strength. Something deep within me knew my own healingwould come. I asked God to help me to see her as He views her. I began to see heras a lost person who believed that taking another woman's husband would make herfeel better about herself. She was no longer my enemy, but instead an empty womanwithout God in her life. The bitterness began to melt away."

When you forgive, you allow God to work in the other person's life. Choosing towalk in obedience has a net positive effect on you and on people around you. Keeppersevering in prayer for those who have hurt you. As Paul says in Philippians,"Keep pressing on."

"If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened" (Psalm66:18).

"Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing Ido: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on

toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in ChristJesus" (Philippians 3:13-14).

10. Have You Really Forgiven?

You might be wondering how you will know if you have truly forgiven.


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"Real forgiveness always brings peace. If you're remembering something and youhave no peace, then it hasn't been forgiven," says Harold Graham.

Test yourself in this. Bring to mind something that your former spouse has said ordone that used to cause you great anger or resentment. Do the old feelings rush inor do you feel peace as you place this memory in the Lord's hands? If you were to

meet your former spouse today, what would be going on inside of you?

Harold Graham offers another good suggestion to help you know if you haveforgiven:

"You will know you have truly forgiven someone when you're finally free of thebaggage that comes along with it. How many times do you say you've forgiven andhave the old feelings rise up on the inside of you? To have no improvement oflife, no improvement of your Christianity, no improvement of your health, and no

improvement in how you feel would be good indications that forgiveness hasn'thappened. The reverse would also be true. If your health improves, if your abilityto relate to people improves, if your spiritual walk deepens, if your ministrysuddenly becomes effective, if your worship suddenly becomes real, that would be agood indication that forgiveness has truly happened."God's peace and healing are supernatural. They are deeper than anything a humancould produce through hard work or will power. God's way brings you blessedfreedom and a release of your burdens.

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the worldgives" (John 14:27).

For more go to:

www.Relevantlifesolutions.org

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Is Forgiveness Really Necessary?