Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Colossians3:13
When I was in primary school, one of the secretaries had a coffee mug that read "I don't get mad - I just get even!" ((Too) many years down the line I still remember it.) Modern society regards vengeance as a right and rage as something we are entitled too.
From God's perspective forgiveness is not optional. It is an instruction and a command. We MUST forgive. It is a Spiritual Law. We can not and may not reserve the right to withhold forgiveness or take vengeance.
Why?
1. Because we are unjust people - we will never balance the scales. Our vengeance is usually over the top and we trigger off endless cycles of downward spiralling violence.
Some people quote the Old Testament eye-for-an-eye principle as a justification of vengeance, but they miss the bigger picture. In ancient culture in a scenario where I had a fight with someone and he broke ONE of my teeth, I would go and get my brothers and we would break TWO of his teeth, and then he would get his brothers...
The eye-for-an-eye principle was just the start of limiting the cycles of violence. The Old and New Testaments move us toward a better principle: "Vengeance is mine" says the Lord. He alone can balance the scales with true justice.
2. Because we have a deep well of forgiven-ness (more on this tomorrow)
3. Matthew (6:15) says: "But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." The degree to which we harbour resentment and unforgiveness in our hearts has an impact on our experience of forgiveness (the poison principle we spoke about previously) More on this in the next few days...
4. It's what Jesus did: "Father forgive them for they don't know what they are doing."
So, forgiveness is not optional - we are not making a big concession when we forgive - we're just doing what is required.
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
