Forgiveness Part 2 - Ready to Forgive

Many people hold themselves to an unrealistic expectation--they expect themselves to be like God. I am not talking about being Christ-like, living life in such a way that points others to the grace and mercy of God provided by the self-sacrifice of Jesus and His resurrection defeating death and hell.  I am talking about people expecting themselves to have qualities of God that we humans do not have--omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence.  It seems that the expectation of omniscience is what really impairs people in their understanding and application of forgiveness. 


Many people expect themselves and others to enact forgiveness immediately after an offense.  They remind themselves and others, or are reminded by others, that God forgives and so should they.  Matthew 6: 14-15 is used almost as a threat of mortal peril.  "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." The pressure is on!  If I don't forgive right now, God won't forgive me!  If you don't forgive me right now, God won't forgive you.  OUCH!  Now that's pressure! 


However, people forget one thing.  We are not God.  Perhaps that's why Jesus followed up His admonition to forgive with His warning not to judge others.  If we hold others to an impossible standard, we will be held to that standard as well.  The standard of which I am speaking is the one characteristic of God mentioned previously that we do not have, omniscience.


"For You, Lord, are good and ready to forgive, abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You" (Psalm 86:5).  Ready to forgive...I think this phrase is of utmost importance in understanding forgiveness and the first step in being a person with a truly forgiving spirit.  Keeping in mind that God is ready to forgive, consider Ephesians 1: 3-4a, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight."  Before the creation of the world...this is the second phrase of utmost importance.  Regardless of how one views the creation of the world, the main point is that God knew what was going to happen before it ever did.  He knew what would happen when He created humanity.  He knew that humans would not remain innocent, that we would understand good and evil by choosing evil, and He already had a plan to redeem us because we would not be deemed worthy of being in a relationship with Him.  He knew before we sinned, and that is the key difference and why the standard of immediate forgiveness is unrealistic.


Ready to forgive...Before the creation of the world...


We humans are not omniscient.  We do not know what will happen before it happens.  We do not have the ability to know and plan ahead of time.  We need time to be ready to forgive.  If we do not take that time, we do not offer forgiveness; we make a statement that we cannot mean because we we were not ready to enact forgiveness.  Obviously, I am not referring to small slights; rather, I am referring to what Jesus meant when He said, "If your brother sins against you, rebuke him" (Luke 17: 3a, NKJV).


When Jesus said "sins against you," what exactly did He mean.  I don't know exactly what He meant, but I have a clue found in Proverbs 6: 16-19: "There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him:

• haughty eyes,
• a lying tongue,
• hands that shed innocent blood,
• a heart that devises wicked schemes,
• feet that are quick to rush into evil,
• a false witness who pours out lies,
• and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers."

Have you ever been on the receiving end of someone who was insultingly arrogant? 

Have you ever been lied about?

Have you ever been abused or had a loved one harmed or killed by another?

Have you ever been betrayed or exploited?

Have you ever been the victim of someone who deliberately chooses to wrong you?

Have you ever been in court, whether a court of law or a metaphorical court of peers, and someone who knew the truth lied about you?

Have you ever been in a situation in which someone stirs up trouble in your family, church, work, or group of friends?

If so, then your work to be ready to forgive begins.