5 MINUTE VIDEO: "What About Forgiveness?" with Keith Giles

Does Jesus expect us to forgive people, even if they don't ask for our forgiveness? What about when they don't repent or stop their offensive behaviors?

Take 5 minutes and listen to Keith's response based on what Jesus has to say about forgiving others and how it relates to our own forgiveness.

SWEET FORGIVENESS

During one of our “Jesus Without Religion (Or Politics)” meetups, someone asked if Christians were expected to forgive those who don’t repent.

It’s a common question, and a good one. Especially when you consider that Jesus tells us to forgive those who sin against us “if they repent…seventy times seven”.

So, if repentance is a pre-requisite for us to receive God’s forgiveness, then isn’t it only fair that other people should repent before we’re expected to forgive them?

Here’s what I think: Jesus told us in the Sermon on the Mount that we should “forgive our debtors” and even tied our own forgiveness of sins from the Father with our willingness to forgive other people.

However, if you forgive a debt, that means the person doesn’t pay what they owe you. And if someone owes you an apology, or an “I’m sorry”, you are expected to forgive that person without waiting to receive what they owe you.

I think we can also look at a few other places where Jesus forgave people who did not repent. He forgave the sins of the man dropped down from the roof right before he healed him and told him to take up his mat and walk. He also forgave the thief on the cross and promised that the man would be with him in paradise that very day. No mention of repentance there. And, of course, Jesus also forgave the soldiers who nailed him to the cross without waiting for repentance or contrition saying, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

So, I think that as followers of Jesus we are expected to forgive people without expecting an apology first.

“For if you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive your sins. But if you do not forgive those who sin against you, your Father will not forgive your sins.” – Jesus [Matt. 6:14-15]

-kg

I FORGIVE

It’s one of the very hardest things in the world for most of us to do – Forgive.

Yet, Jesus commands us to forgive others, and not only to forgive them, but to forgive them in the same way that we have been forgiven by God. That’s a lot of forgiveness. In fact, it’s complete forgiveness that let’s go and forgets, as if the wrong doing never even took place.

But that’s not all that Jesus has to say about the topic. I hope you’re sitting down for this.

Jesus actually says that he won’t forgive us if we don’t forgive others.

Yes. He really does. Right here:

"For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." - JESUS (Matthew 6:14-15)

Whoa Nelly. Is Jesus suggesting that his forgiveness to us is conditional? I’ve never once heard a single sermon on such a thing in my entire life. How can that be?

Perhaps Jesus is forgetting that "if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness"? (1 John 1:9)

And what about the fact that the Psalms tell us that "as far as the east is from the west, this is how far he has removed our sins from us"?(Ps 103:12)

What’s Jesus talking about here? How can he say that we can’t be forgiven of our sins unless we first forgive others of their sins against us?

The reason is very simple: Unforgivness is a sin.

So, if we hold a grudge against someone, that is a sin. If we refuse to repent of our sin, and if we do not stop practicing this sin of unforgiveness, we cannot be forgiven of it.

In order to receive forgiveness, we have to honestly confess our sins to God and we need to repent of these actions which hurt our relationship with God - and which also hurts us as well.

As hard, or even as impossible, as forgiveness can sometimes be, we have to learn to forgive anyway.

“There is someone that I love even though I don’t approve of what he does. There is someone I accept though some of his thoughts and actions revolt me. There is someone I forgive though he hurts the people I love the most. That person is me.” - C.S. Lewis

See, this is why Jesus also commands us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Because we give ourselves permission to do horrible things and still consider ourselves worthy of forgiveness and mercy. That means we need to love others enough to consider that they, also, are worthy of being loved and forgiven and shown mercy.

Now, the truth is, we are no more “worthy” of forgiveness than anyone else is, including the ones who have harmed us. But Jesus doesn’t give us any room to argue. Our forgiveness is tied to our forgiveness of others.

Let’s repent of the sin of unforgiveness and extend the same grace and mercy and love that we want so much for ourselves.

Forgiving others unlocks you from the prison of bitterness. It also sets you free to receive God’s forgiveness.

-kg