Forgiveness
When Jesus says in Mattew 18.18 “”Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” Or as I was more recently reading in John 20.23 “If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” What does he mean and how literally does he mean it? What does it mean to forgive? God’s forgiveness is what we receive in accepting Him but what does it mean for us to forgive each other? Does Jesus give us the authority to decide if other peoples sins against us will be held against them by God? If so this is an incredible authority for him to give us, although the bible does in places suggest that we will be given considerable authority in the future, but look at how much Jesus encourages us to forgive on another:
The Lord’s Prayer;
Luke 17.3-4 “3”Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. 4″And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.””;
Leviticus 19.17 “‘Do not hate a fellow Israelite in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in their guilt.”;
Mattew 18.21-22 “21Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” 22Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven”
to point out only a few.
Jesus and Stephen both demonstrate this authority of forgiveness just before they die “Father forgive them for they know not what they do!” And “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!”
Forgiving someone is not the same as agreeing with them, nor is it the same as trusting them, but when you refuse to forgive someone, are you really sure that you don’t want God to forgive them either?
Now for something slightly different, a short story.
The Bramble
There once was a prickly bramble bush full of thorns. It often saw the other bushes full of nice flowers which people often came to pick and use for wonderful occasions such as weddings. Sometimes the bramble would cry to God “Why did you make me like this, so full of thorns. The other bushes all have nice flowers used for wonderful things, and are always visited by people, but no one wants to visit me and if they do visit, they only get harmed!” “Trust in me” God would reply “and one day, the whole world will remember your branches.” Time went by and the bramble often felt sad that he was so prickly. Then one day, some soldiers pulled him up an twisted him into a circlet and pushed him onto the head of a man bleeding, covered in bruises and half naked, whom they then took to execute on the remains of a tree, mocking him as they went. At the end of it all the twisted bramble cried to God “Lord I have tried to trust in you. Why have you made this my shameful end?” “Shameful?” said God, “You are the crown that my only begotten Son wore to his greatest and most glorious battle!”
fredjimbob: Walking with God 