Forgive, can I really?

It's not easy to forgive. If I am just basing my forgiveness on my strength or my will, then I won't forgive at all. But the Lord has forgiven me so much. Who am I not to forgive others?

I always compare it to forgiving debts. I have a large amount of debt that I can never ever pay...and God in His goodness just cancel it. Poof! What a relief! How much gratitude do I feel? I can now forgive others not based on my strength but on His power. Nancy Leigh Demoss put it more accurately in her reflection today at Our Journey. Read on.


From OUR JOURNEY booklet, Reflection for April 8, 2009 (Wed.)

Not Me, Not This

"Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea." - Micah 7:18-19

Are you in a situation where forgiveness seems impossible? Perhaps you're thinking, "I just can't forgive this person for what he's done to me. He's done it too many times. He's hurt me too deeply."

But is there a threshold of pain beyond which we are not required to forgive?

The Scripture reminds us that Gos has "cast all our sins into the depths of the sea" (Micah 7:19, emphasis added). Not some, but all.

These sins include things like the scorning mockery and insults of those who "despised" Christ (Psalm 22:6-7), who totally "rejected" everything about His character, His person, His reason for living (Isaiah 53:3). It's one thing to be disliked; it's quite another to be despised - hated, spit upon, ridiculed, humiliated, betrayed, and wanted dead. Add to these the sins of our own that contributed to the guilt Jesus bore on the cross.

Yes, this is the same God "who blots out your transgressions" and who "remembers your sins no more" (Isaiah 43:25 NIV), who found us "dead in our trespasses" and "made us alive together with Christ" because of His "great love" for us (Ephesians 2:4-5).

You may not feel any natural "great love" toward the one who brought such shipwreck into your life - the one who trampled on your marriage vows, the one who abused you as a child, or the one who cheated you out of a thousands of dollars.

No one would expect you to.

But the power - and the beauty - of the transformed Christian life is that "it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13 NKJV, emphasis added).

It will never be the depth of your love that causes you to forgive such heartless acts and attitudes. It will never be within your power to overlook the wicked lies and wild justifications of those who have made you distrustful. It can only be the love of Christ transplanted into your believing heart that can exchange your weakness for His strength.

And so because He has forgiven us - and because of His boundless life which now indwells us - what offense is too great for us to forgive? - NANCY LEIGH DEMOSS

Prayer: Father, I confess it is hard to forgive sometimes. I am thankful that You do not ask me to forgive through any power of my own but instead through Your power and love. Help me to extend Your grace to others. Amen.

Journal: Am I guilty of believing that some offenses are too big to forgive? What have I learned from Christ's example that can change the way I think about forgiveness?