Why Forgive?
Forgiveness and grace are linked very closely. When I led a junior school assembly last month I explained ‘grace’ by saying ‘no matter how good or bad we are, God loves us just the same.’
In a conflict situation, how do we halt the cycle of blame and pain? In Greek, forgiveness means to release and free yourself.
The Lord’s prayer…’forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.’ This challenges us to make a decision to act.
Forgiveness is the opposite of resentment, that clings to the past and keeps picking and repicking the scab and the wound deepens. Hence the victim suffers twice.
On the cross Jesus said ‘Forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.’
What would have happened if Jesus hadn’t forgiven them?
The most important difference between Christianity and all the other religions is that we receive God’s grace as a free gift.
I felt I needed to give a few other views to go along with this blog.
We must always be extremely careful when we talk about such fundamental issues such as forgiveness. When we talk about ‘God loving us no matter how good or bad we are’ we can be very well intentioned but unfortunately miscommunicate a foundation part of God’s character, this is especially important when talking to children and young people. The bible clearly teaches that salvation is not through works but through faith, however it then goes on to say that as a second part of our judgement we will also be judged or rewarded according to our works. If someone gets to judgement and they explain, ‘I did what ever I wanted because I knew you would still love me’ then they will be very shocked at the response, we do not want to be party to such an event.
I like to see God’s grace as, ‘God’s ability to forgive us for any thing we have done, no matter how bad, if we are willing to repent of these actions, words and thoughts in sincerity from our heart’.
The above blog is very correct to bring to our intention that ‘God’s grace is a very unique part of his character and the Christian Faith’ but we must never accidentally condone evil – repentance is the road to God’s grace, a unique gift that only God could bring into action through the sacrifice of Jesus.
May God bless you.
In order to understand Forgiveness, we really need to get to the heart of Unforgiveness, especially when it is to do with unresolved pain, caused to us by somebody else. Plus we need God’s solution, as stated in His Word.
Let’s remember that: An unforgiving Christian is a contradiction in terms.
Quoted from the Rev. Graeme Cann.
” I explained ‘grace’ by saying ‘no matter how good or bad we are, God loves us just the same.’”
I’m afraid you may have accidentally miseld the children you spoke to. Matthew 12:31 is quite clear:
“Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be
forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.”
And 1 Corinthians 13 is quite clear what ‘love’ means:
“[Love] does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.”
So using his own definiton of love, God does not possess ‘grace’ by your definition. God’s definition cannot be wrong, so we have to conclude that either your definition of grace is wrong, or that God does not have grace.
Which on is it?