“Forgiveness is not an occasional act it is a permanent attitude” - Martin Luther King Jr.
Most of us keep a list of the wrongs others have done to us. Does that foster or even allow an attitude of forgiveness to develop? The answer is no, because what’s on the list influences everything we do, think and want to become.
And if we’re not careful we can end up living off of our friends list too and not God’s script.
Ephesians 4:31 - 32 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
There is enormous freedom if you live life with an attitude of forgiveness. But forgiveness is hard because we struggle with those attitudes of: What about my rights; my entitlements; how I’ve been hurt; that they don’t deserve to be forgiven. They don’t deserve to have their wrong crossed off my list, because they hurt me.
Forgiveness isn’t a gift you offer to those who have hurt you, forgiveness is a gift you give to yourself.
To forgive someone is to begin to heal the hurt we never deserved. That’s why forgiveness needs to be more than just an occasional act, forgiveness has to become a permanent attitude. As forgiving leads to living. That’s why God is so hugely into forgiveness.
Jesus displayed this attitude of forgiveness because that’s the attitude that God has.
Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace
“In him” is talking about Jesus, who is God.
“We have Redemption” is the same process as that of redeeming a gift certificate. That when you redeem it with God he’ll give you life and that gift is Jesus. So when we follow Jesus to God we’re given life. We’re given an alternative to living with the list. Jesus is God’s gift, that we can redeem for God’s life in ours.
“Through his blood” is a metaphor that explains what Jesus Christ did on the cross. To have blood spilt was a way of saying to have someone die. Whether there was much blood wasn’t really a factor. So “Through his blood” means that when Jesus died he made it possible for God to no longer hold onto the list of wrongs we’ve committed and pain we caused him. Jesus created a way for God to erase all the things that are on our list, of all the wrong we’ve done, ‘sin’, the Bible calls it.
In affect God changed his own rules so that now there was an option B. Option A was you are judged by the list: what’s on the list is what you’ve done to hurt and betray God, and that’s what you’ll be judged by. But option B, option B is where God said: “If you like, I’ll erase everything on the list. All the stuff you thought you’d never be able to escape, now in God’s eyes is gone. It will never be held against you. You will never be called to give account for it. You will never have to be in fear that one day God’s wrath will fall upon you, or banish you to hell, because I want to be in a relationship with you.” Because that’s how God approaches us, with a permanent attitude of forgiveness
“The riches of God’s grace” mean that Jesus can do the unthinkable. He can perform the miracle and erase all the things we’ve ever done and he has this deep well of rich grace from which to draw from.
“Bitterness imprisons life; love releases it.
Bitterness paralyzes life; love empowers it.
Bitterness sours life; love sweetens it.
Bitterness sickens life; love heals it.
Bitterness blinds life; love anoints its eyes.”
- Harry Emerson Fosdick
