Forgiving Others - Evangelical Caucus/Devotional

Gracetoyou.org ^ | 1997 | John McArthur, Grace Community Church

[metmom]

“‘Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing’” (Luke 23:34).

As Jesus forgave others (including us), we should extend forgiveness to those who wrong us.

Jesus had a forgiving heart right up to the end, even after He had experienced a lifetime of mankind’s worst treatment. He came down to a world He had created, but that world rebuffed Him. Its inhabitants’ eyes were blinded by sin, and they could not see any beauty in Jesus. Almost immediately after His humble birth in a stable, King Herod sought to have Him killed (Matt. 2:13, 16-18). And the Jewish leaders on various occasions contested Christ’s teachings and looked for opportunities to seize Him and kill Him. The cross was just the culmination of a lifetime of persecution against Jesus.

Jesus’ death by crucifixion was one of the most humiliating, painful forms of execution the world has ever known. From a human perspective, we would have expected Him to plead with God the Father for mercy or to be enraged at God and denounce Him for allowing Him to be crucified. If we had written the original script for Jesus’ crucifixion scene, we probably would have had Him screaming threats of retaliation at His killers. But our Savior did none of those things. Instead, He asked His Father to forgive His enemies.

The Lord Jesus prayed for the most important need His executioners would ever have. They would never be able to enter the presence of a holy God if their sins were not forgiven. Christ was concerned that His opponents, who were ignorantly putting Him to death, have an opportunity to be forgiven rather than endure God’s vengeance.

Such an attitude of love and mercy should also be ours. We, unlike Jesus, are sinners ourselves who need constant forgiveness. Therefore, when we are wronged, our primary concern ought to be that God would forgive the one who has sinned against us. An excellent model of this attitude is Stephen, who prayed as he was being stoned to death, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” (Acts 7:60). He followed Christ’s own example of love and forgiveness, and so should we.

Suggestions for Prayer

Pray that you may have a more consistently forgiving attitude toward others who wrong or offend you.

For Further Study

Read Matthew 18:21-35.

What is implied in Jesus’ figurative expression “seventy times seven” (v. 22) regarding forgiving others?

Ultimately, how much does it matter that we maintain a forgiving attitude (vv. 32-35)?

From Strength for Today by John MacArthur Copyright © 1997. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.com.

[SheepWhisperer]

Added note to
“It is ALWAYS the one who is harmed that pays the price to reconcile the relationship.”

Human relationships are not always restored.

My view of the two most important character traits in following Jesus are humility and forgiveness.

Humility to say; “I was wrong.” To understand that others also make mistakes.
Forgiveness to give to others what we also need.

But humans are not God.
God embraces us in our humility to Him. God is love.
Humans may not have love and therefore relationship may never be restored.
This restoration is not within our control, however, our own forgiveness releases us from our own prison and allows God to do His work in the matter.

While we cannot compel others to humility, we have our own responsibilities clearly told to us. In this is peace and joy for ourselves in our walk with He who loves us.

[Elsie]

Count me among those who, like the publican, cry for mercy.

[Faith Presses On]

Yes, as the Bible says, Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil.

And that is our hope, that He will completely do so.

As He said in Matthew 12:36, every word we say will be judged.

Long after we believe things are “over,” our actions are still producing consequences.

While especially today were encouraged to see talk as cheap and even to feel powerless and frustrated, our words are powerful, as the Bible also says.

We’re actually the product of so many people’s words. Even the casual conversations of our unknown ancestors thousands of years ago are affecting us today.

[metmom]

I’m well aware of the generational sin concept, how the sins of our ancestors affect us, and affected our parents and how they treated us, etc.

However, considering it, the product of all that affects how I treated and continue to treat my own kids and others.

And I’ll do stuff I’ll need them to forgive me for.

It helps tremendously, though, when someone admits their wrong and askes forgiveness or offers restitution, when that is an option.

[Faith Presses On]

I was more thinking of how even small things affect our lives. So even small things and seemingly unimportant conversations of our ancestors in part have led to our lives today. For instance, someone’s life today might have been totally different, but for the fact that an ancestor in 800 A.D., for example, dropped an egg and broke it. Just then, a relative walked in, and they were so annoyed with breaking the egg that they started an argument, and that changed the course of their lives, and the lives of many other people. And God is sovereign over it all.

That view is also in contrast to how we are often instructed to think in our age, in terms of “big historical events” and trends, like the fall of the Roman Empire, the Protestant Reformation, etc. etc.

In both, God is sovereign.