At some point in our lives, we are all going to be in a place of needing to receive forgiveness. And, as hard as it is to extend forgiveness, sometimes it is even harder to receive it – and harder still to forgive ourselves.
It’s important that we learn to humble ourselves and let the healing work of forgiveness have its way in our lives. With forgiveness, we can begin to find restoration. Without forgiveness, we fall into condemnation.
The song “How He Loves” offers these great lyrics:
We are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If His grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
And Heaven meets earth like an unforseen kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way He loves.
The line that always gets me is this: “I don’t have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way He loves.” It speaks to me of the fact that we can’t sit around beating ourselves up over things that may have happened in the past. We need to put those things behind us and focus on the things before us. We need to forgive ourselves. We need to understand that God’s love for us gives us permission to do that.
Romans 7:21 – 8:24 talks about this same concept. Paul here is complaining that, even though he wants to do the right thing, for some reason, he can’t stop doing wrong. There’s a battle between good and evil going on inside of him, and sometimes evil wins out. But, he goes on to say in 8:1 that there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus. It doesn’t matter how many times we mess up – He’s always there to forgive us, and He never points a finger at us to condemn us. We need to learn how to offer ourselves that same grace.
Condemnation will drag you down. It will steal your joy. It will cause you to withdraw from the ones who love you. And, it will never bring restoration.
I’ll end with more wisdom from Paul. In Philippians 3, Paul says “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize…” What great words to live by! I don’t know about you, but I’m going to focus on living life to the fullest today rather than letting the past drag me down.
Forgiveness. What does it really mean? I think it’s something that we’ve all struggled with at some point. I did some searching and found lots of different definitions, but this one really hit home for me:
Forgiveness is giving up my right to hurt you, for hurting me.
That definition really speaks to the struggle that goes on inside your head and your heart when someone wrongs you and you need to forgive them. It also highlights the fact that forgiveness is a choice, not a feeling. Forgiving doesn’t mean that you no longer feel the hurt. It means that you’ve decided not to dish it out in return. Maybe that’s what makes forgiveness so powerful.
Ultimately, forgiveness is birthed out of love – agape love. Wikipedia says that agape love is divine, unconditional, self-sacrificing, active, volitional, and thoughtful love. It also describes “agape” as “an intentional response to promote well-being when responding to that which has generated ill-being.” Agape love is a 1 Corinthians 13 kind of love. It’s the kind of love that we experience when we receive forgiveness from our heavenly Father.
Forgiveness can be a scary thing. But, that perfect love – that agape love – can remove fear. 1 John 4: 17-18 (The Message) says, “God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we’re free of worry on Judgment Day – our standing in the world is identical with Christ’s. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life... is one not yet fully formed in love.”
There’s no question about it – Forgiveness is hard. In fact, it’s almost impossible without God’s love at work in your life. But, when true forgiveness is offered and received, it’s a powerful thing. More on that next time…
Repentance – Forgiveness – Restoration.
I’ve been thinking a lot about those 3 words recently. Stuff keeps happening, and those words just keep coming up. I’ve seen some folks do some things that just made me go “What in the world were you thinking?!?!?” And then just as quickly, the thought has come – “They need forgiveness.” I’ve seen some things that made me go “What a mess!” And then the thought comes – “There needs to be restoration.”
As much as I hate to admit it, I can be pretty quick to judge. But, lately, I’ve been confronted with the fact that people don’t need my judgment. They need love. They need mercy. They need a second chance. So, I’m digging in a little deeper to try to understand the role that repentance, forgiveness, and restoration should play in my life and in my relationships with other people.
I watched the movie Invictus last week, and it was a really powerful illustration of what can happen when people choose to forgive. In the movie, Nelson Mandela said “Forgiveness liberates the soul. It removes fear. That is why it is such a powerful weapon.” Wow! There’s a lot of truth in those words, and Mandela’s willingness to walk them out brought about restoration where most people thought it could never happen.
So, in keeping with that theme, here is a "Worship Wednesday" song called “Forgiven” by Sanctus Real. Take some time to really listen to the lyrics – There’s a great message here!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZVjKrmvYYQ
