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July 15, 2023 - Forgive

I have been thinking about this thing of forgiveness and struggling with it for sometime now.  The Lord's Prayer:  forgive us our sins - AS WE FORGIVE OTHERS.   I was watching a movie recently (Amish Grace), and it has helped me understand better the concept of the forgiveness that is required.   Forgive involves concepts of harboring anger and resentment, pardon, excuse and excuses, exonerate as to absolve blame from someone from a fault or mistake or wrongdoing especially after due consideration of the case.  

  • [fərˈɡiv]

  • VERB
  • stop feeling angry or resentful toward (someone) for an offense, flaw, or mistake: 
    • Be ye angry and sin not  Eph_4:26  Be ye angry,G3710 andG2532 sinG264 not: letG3361 notG3361 theG3588 sunG2246 go downG1931 uponG1909 yourG5216 wrath:G3950

      What would be the sin if you fail to forgive? 

  • SIMILAR:
  • pardon
  • excuse
  • exonerate

  • (be forgiven) 
  • stop feeling angry or resentful toward someone for (an offense, flaw, or mistake): 
  • "he was not a man who found it easy to forgive and forget" · "they are not going to pat my head and say all is forgiven"
  • cancel (a debt): 

  • used in polite expressions as a request to excuse or regard indulgently one's foibles, ignorance, or impoliteness: 


  • ex·on·er·ate
  • [iɡˈzänəˌrāt]

  • VERB
  • (especially of an official body) absolve (someone) from blame for a fault or wrongdoing, especially after due consideration of the case: 
  • "they should exonerate these men from this crime" · "the court-martial exonerated me"
  • SIMILAR:
  • absolve
  • clear
  • acquit

  • (exonerate someone from) 
  • release someone from (a duty or obligation): 
  • "Pope Clement V exonerated the king from his oath to the barons"

Eph_4:32  and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, even as God also in Christ forgave you. 


Col_3:13  forbearing one another, and forgiving each other, if any man have a complaint against any; even as the Lord forgave you, so also do ye: 



Christ lived a perfect life;  we don't.   We may think we do because we really want to, but we are comparing our good life to the bad life we see in others.  The point is ; it is not the sin, but the sinner we are to forgive, and forgive them even as the Lord forgave you.   

Someone sins according to our standards.  Turn your back on him.  If they neglect , disrespect or hurt you in any way, turn your back on him.   Is that what Christ did to us?  NO.  He went to the Cross for us !  

FORGIVE
Refusing to  hold a grudge but rather to release oneself from anger and hate because of a wrong committed.   Would we ever be so unforgiving to blame God for what happens to us in this world because of someone else's sins?  God does not hold anger against us for our mistakes through His Son, Jesus Christ.  We forgive and do not hold anger or hate against our brethren in the same way.  

 

Exonerate

01 Oct 2010
Sometimes our path leads us over the hot sands of the desert. Our feet drag, and we dehydrate; our lips burn and chap, and our mind sees illusions of beauty and peace that is not there! In seeking out a waterhole, we might find a place that looks so refreshing, but find it  poisoned! Where do we find relief?
There were times when Christ encountered those who were standing on that desert, hopeless and helpless, and in His compassion said ” thy sins are forgiven”. He offers the living water that sustains us over those stretches of our path that leads us on to our journeys end. His “relief” is offered through those who would be His followers and His servants, through His Church. In His followers is found sustenance; comfort; forgiveness and fellowship.
Mat 25:40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these my brethren, even these least, ye did it unto me.
The prayer He “taught” His disciples: “forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who wrong us.
Maybe one doesn’t sin as much as the next one, but none have not sinned in one way or another, and is just as guilty, needing forgiveness.   So why try to remove the mote from the brother’s eye before removing the beam from one’s own eye? Would that not seem  an impossible task?
James said:
 Jas 1:6  But let him ask in faith, nothing doubting: for he that doubteth is like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed..
Ask and it shall be given unto you!  Seek and ye shall find!  Forgive and you shall be forgiven!  As an obedient child, trust in the promises of Christ, even though you might doubt yourself, believing that your are too sinful to be forgiven!.