Forgive Even As God

Today’s Reading:  Proverbs 2, Ephesians 3-5

Eph. 4:31-32 (NKJV)
31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

I want to use today’s blog to follow up on my blog on forgiveness last week. This passage reminded me of another dimension of forgiveness that has helped me stay free from bitterness and hardness of heart I want to share with you. First of all we must realize that offence comes to all of us. No one is exempt from being hurt by someone close to us.

Jesus told us in Luke 17 it is not possible to live without offences. They are part of life. The choice we do have is how we respond to offences when they come our way. I tell people that being offended is a choice, not an event that happens to us. Enter forgiveness. That is the only response to offences that keeps our hearts free from bitterness.

This passage commands us to forgive even as God in Christ forgave us. My first response to this command was “What? How can you expect me to forgive like you, God? That’s not fair.” The Lord doesn’t mind us being honest with Him about things we don’t understand and don’t yet have revelation about.

He asked me, “How did I forgive you in Christ?” That really got me to thinking. I thought about it for a few minutes and then responded, “Well, Jesus paid the price for my sins even while I was still guilty. He sprinkled His blood on the mercy seat in Heaven and the Bible says His blood is still speaking on our behalf. When I sin now, instead of my sin being the evidence You use to judge my guilt or innocence it is the blood of Jesus.”

The Lord responded to me, “That is right, and that is what I mean by you forgiving others as I forgave them in Christ. Whenever someone sins against you and you are tempted to make a judgment against them, choose to forgive them as I forgave you. Present new evidence before Me that is greater than the evidence of their sin against you. It is the blood of My Son. When you present the evidence of the blood of Jesus before Me, I will accept that as a higher authority in the court of heaven and release forgiveness to them.”

I cannot tell you how many times I have used this wisdom in walking in total forgiveness. The first person I used this revelation to forgive was my dad. I realized I had judged him as guilty for his absenteeism and abandonment in my life. I had unconsciously acted as the judge and jury and passed a guilty sentence on him until he came crawling on his hands and knees to ask me to forgive him.

The problem was he never one time ever apologized for his neglect in our relationship. When I saw this, I went before God and told Him I needed to ask His forgiveness for taking His place and judging my dad. I told Him I wanted to hold a re-trial before the court of Heaven. I then told Him I had new evidence to present before Him concerning my dad. It was the blood of Jesus that declares my dad innocent just like it declared me innocent even while he and I were still guilty.

This brought such freedom to me and helped me to see my dad through God’s eyes and love him the last few years of his life. This real forgiveness opened our relationship and opened my dad’s heart to the Lord. He received the Lord before he left this life. Praise God! This was the fruit of me forgiving him even as God in Christ forgave me.

Is there anyone in your life for whom you need to hold a retrial and present new evidence before Heaven so forgiveness can become real in your heart? Get off the judge’s bench. Present the blood of Jesus before God as greater evidence that releases them from the prison of your heart. Forgive them and go free!