The Power of Forgiveness
"The next day John (the Baptist) seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.) John 1:29
"But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." Matthew 6:15
We often have an image of Jesus (Yeshua) as a soft, beautiful dove, a strong Lion and in this season as an innocent babe, but I am reminded this morning that He was thee sacrificial Lamb, He was the great sacrifice for all of our sins when He willingly allowed Himself to be stripped of all His heavenly power to suffer the penalty that paid for the debt we all owed but could never pay. I cannot fathom the depth of that kind of love. We may never be able on this earth to comprehend the magnitude of that kind of sacrifice. The power of forgiveness goes beyond my realm of reason, but that's where faith steps in...
I had a conversation with my teenage granddaughter when she was visiting, we talked about the atrocities, prejudices and injustices that have been done over the centuries and even to this day to people. Some things that have happened seems to have been absorbed into and even hidden in our history; spoken in hushed tones, shame ridden and even shoved under the proverbial rug for generation after generation. She wondered how could God forgive someone who would do such awful things to another human being. In her youthful passion she questioned how could God have paid the price for THEIR sins, as awful as they were and are. How could He forgive THEM... Those of us that are grandparents, I believe that the Lord has given us a certain patience/grace towards our grandchildren that we did not have with our children, maybe it is because we are a lot older, or maybe we have just been around longer and have heard and seen more in this life...that is why we have the reputations of being more lenient and more generous when it comes to things, which includes all
types of goodies by the way. 😉 In this case it was the patience to hear her out and not criticize for even asking that question. My granddaughter is a loving, kind girl, and I felt honored that she would be transparent with what was in her heart, because to be honest it was in my heart at one time.
Forgiveness is a powerful thing. Yeshua died for the sins of the world, He has already paid the price for all, no matter what the sin is. There is no "degree" of sin, God is no respecter of persons and if He was, He would be unfair, unjust and I dare to say... prejudice! That may shock you to hear that but it is true! If God favored one person over the other He would not be the loving God that He is. Now here is the key, He loves us ALL the same, He paid the penalty for ALL...but we each have to receive the gift of that sacrifice. When we come and surrender our lives to Him, then we are asking and receiving that gift that covers and forgives all our sins and unrighteousness; but if we choose not to surrender and receive that gift of forgiveness then He has no other obligation to fulfill for us. Yet even when we reject His gift He love us still...but our choices do have consequences.
If we have received such awesome forgiveness for our sins, then we have to forgive others. Unforgiveness is a sin. To forgive others does not mean that we have to hang out with them and be chums, but it is a heart condition. We may never understand why someone do or did what they do or did, but here is where faith comes in, we ask God to help us to forgive them not because of anything we can do but because of HIS sacrifice that He gave for ALL. He has already taken it upon Himself, so we give those people to Him. Forgiveness is a powerful thing, if we ever withhold it, then we are only hurting ourselves. Someone once said, that not to forgive is like pouring a glass of poison for the person and then drinking it yourself... Trust the Lamb of God today...if there are people or a person that you have not forgiven, trust Him to help you forgive them today...that act of forgiveness will be the best "gift" that you could give to yourself and them this season.
We often have an image of Jesus (Yeshua) as a soft, beautiful dove, a strong Lion and in this season as an innocent babe, but I am reminded this morning that He was thee sacrificial Lamb, He was the great sacrifice for all of our sins when He willingly allowed Himself to be stripped of all His heavenly power to suffer the penalty that paid for the debt we all owed but could never pay. I cannot fathom the depth of that kind of love. We may never be able on this earth to comprehend the magnitude of that kind of sacrifice. The power of forgiveness goes beyond my realm of reason, but that's where faith steps in...
I had a conversation with my teenage granddaughter when she was visiting, we talked about the atrocities, prejudices and injustices that have been done over the centuries and even to this day to people. Some things that have happened seems to have been absorbed into and even hidden in our history; spoken in hushed tones, shame ridden and even shoved under the proverbial rug for generation after generation. She wondered how could God forgive someone who would do such awful things to another human being. In her youthful passion she questioned how could God have paid the price for THEIR sins, as awful as they were and are. How could He forgive THEM... Those of us that are grandparents, I believe that the Lord has given us a certain patience/grace towards our grandchildren that we did not have with our children, maybe it is because we are a lot older, or maybe we have just been around longer and have heard and seen more in this life...that is why we have the reputations of being more lenient and more generous when it comes to things, which includes all
types of goodies by the way. 😉 In this case it was the patience to hear her out and not criticize for even asking that question. My granddaughter is a loving, kind girl, and I felt honored that she would be transparent with what was in her heart, because to be honest it was in my heart at one time.
Forgiveness is a powerful thing. Yeshua died for the sins of the world, He has already paid the price for all, no matter what the sin is. There is no "degree" of sin, God is no respecter of persons and if He was, He would be unfair, unjust and I dare to say... prejudice! That may shock you to hear that but it is true! If God favored one person over the other He would not be the loving God that He is. Now here is the key, He loves us ALL the same, He paid the penalty for ALL...but we each have to receive the gift of that sacrifice. When we come and surrender our lives to Him, then we are asking and receiving that gift that covers and forgives all our sins and unrighteousness; but if we choose not to surrender and receive that gift of forgiveness then He has no other obligation to fulfill for us. Yet even when we reject His gift He love us still...but our choices do have consequences.
If we have received such awesome forgiveness for our sins, then we have to forgive others. Unforgiveness is a sin. To forgive others does not mean that we have to hang out with them and be chums, but it is a heart condition. We may never understand why someone do or did what they do or did, but here is where faith comes in, we ask God to help us to forgive them not because of anything we can do but because of HIS sacrifice that He gave for ALL. He has already taken it upon Himself, so we give those people to Him. Forgiveness is a powerful thing, if we ever withhold it, then we are only hurting ourselves. Someone once said, that not to forgive is like pouring a glass of poison for the person and then drinking it yourself... Trust the Lamb of God today...if there are people or a person that you have not forgiven, trust Him to help you forgive them today...that act of forgiveness will be the best "gift" that you could give to yourself and them this season.
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