AM I FORGIVEN?

Am I Forgiven?

“But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.” Matt. 6:15 (NLT)

One day I watched two children playing together with a little truck.  One of them grabbed the truck and pushed the other child.  The mom came up and said, “That wasn’t nice, now you say you’re sorry.”  Her son just gave the other child a mean look and finally, in a low voice said, “Sorry”.  He threw the truck down on the floor and stomped away. According to his actions, he wasn’t sorry at all. 

How like many of us at times.  We do or say things that are not kind and loving and then go on about our business.  I have found it very easy to say I’m sorry, but my heart doesn’t always agree with my words.  Believe me when I tell you that God, the Father sees and knows where our hearts are in all matters. 

It doesn’t take much to say you are sorry, but it takes a lot more to follow through with it.  There is a word in the Bible that carries a lot of weight and the word is: ‘Repentance’.  Repentance means “to change; to turn away from”.  To put it plainer, don’t do it again.

Someone once told me that although she was a Christian, she would never forgive a person for something they did to her.  This is a very dangerous place to be in because the Word states clearly that if you don’t forgive others, God will not forgive you!  In Luke 6:37, it reads, “Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”  I explained this to the person and after prayer she asked God for forgiveness and forgave the other person.

Luke 17:3 gives a warning to those who sin: “So watch yourselves! “If another believer sins, rebuke that person; then if there is repentance, forgive.”  This goes both ways; if you sin repent, because without repentance, there is no forgiveness.  If you see another believer in sin, rebuke them and explain they need to repent so they will be forgiven.   

I think of the woman who was about to be stoned and Jesus came to her rescue and then he said to her, “Go and sin no more”.  [John 8:11]  Jesus forgave her, but he warned her to never again do what she had been doing.  God has not changed; He wants to forgive all of our sins, but to go back to what we were doing before is a greater sin.  It’s like turning around and slapping Jesus in the face.  “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” [Ephesians 1:7]  Remember what He did for you. 

“Don’t sin by letting anger control you. Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry.”           [Ephesians 4:26]  If there is someone in your life that you have not forgiven, please pray about it and in your heart of hearts forgive them.  God knows and will forgive you for not dealing with it sooner.  God loves you and wants the very best for you, including happiness.  Happiness cannot be had if you are holding un-forgiveness in your heart.