Forgiveness and unforgivingness

divinelyfavour (47)in HeartChurch • 3 years ago (edited)

Good evening my dear friends,steemians and members of the Heartchurch family.Just a little admonishing for us.
Sincerely,we live in a world with so much offences, hurts,pains and annoyances.We live among beings who take pleasure in hurting their fellow humans.We.live among people who just feel good making other's feel bad and hurt.We live among people who find joy in treating others as animals and less humans,people who have locked up their conscience and destroyed all forms of human feelings and sympathy.
Everyday we go out and have people offend us in varying degrees;from something as minor as stepping on our toes to setting us up,or killing a loved one(relative on friend).How do we cope with such occurrences and still continue with life?
Matthew 18:21-22(KJV)

Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?
Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.
Jesus gave the golden rule and it is stated above.
Just like Peter,you could be asking how long or how many times must you have to forgive people who offend you.Peter came to Jesus requesting how many times he had to forgive his brother in a day,and Jesus' reply was not just seven times should you forgive him,but seventy times seven times.The same reply is what Jesus requesting s giving to us today.Now someone may ask,how can a person offend someone else up till seventy times seven times in a day? What Jesus Christ meant was that we have to forgive as many times as we are offended.
There are things we need to know about forgiveness.God said;"My people perish because of lack of knowledge."It may be that we are still harbouring unforgivingness in our hearts because we are not aware of some of these things.

Unforgivingness keeps you in bondage with the person who offended us,while forgiveness gives us freedom.Many people's hearts are mobile prisons.They have locked up many people in their hearts as a result of the weight or gravity of the offense done.

When you refuse to forgive.It doesn't just affect the person not forgiven alone,it also affects the person not forgiving,and affect him even more.It ties down everything about you and even reduces your productivity and effectiveness.
Unforgivingness destroys and hinders your relationship with God,while forgiveness facilitates and promotes your relationship with God.God will not share the appartment of your heart with anything else including unforgivingness,no matter how genuine your reasons may be for harbouring it.God does not dwell in an atmosphere of unforgivingness.Infact He says in Matthew 5:23-24,'Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.'
This shows how important forgiveness is to God,and to your relationship with Him.
Unforgivingness denies you forgiveness.
Matthew 6:14-15 says,
'For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.'
It is clear that no matter the gravity of the wrong done to us,if we do not forgive men of their tresspasses,God will not forgive us.'What we sow,is what we would reap.'
The wicked servant in Matthew 19:23-34,was forgiven by his master whom he owed 10,000 talents,and rather than show that same compassion and extend that same love to his fellow servant who owed him 100 talents,he went ahead to lock him up until he pays. This singular act cost him dearly.See what happened in verses 32-34;
'32
Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:
33
KJV:Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?
34
KJV:And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due to him.'
Unforgivingness is a chain that holds you to your past and stops you from moving forward and making progress.
You benefit more by forgiving than the person being forgiven.Whenever you harbour a person in your heart,the person keeps on going with life while you are stacked,tied down,depressed, angry and resentful.
Although forgiveness is very important,there are some things we must take note of.
Forgiveness does not mean forgetting the wrong done or the offense committed.Infact,even God still remembers our offenses and sins,but doesn't use them against us.
2)It does not mean condoning or excusing offenses and wrongs.Forgiveness does not mean that you should swallow any nonsense that anyone does.Sometimes you need to speak out and be outspoken about certain things to make the offender aware.
Forgiveness does not necessitate that you reconcile with the offender or release them from legal accountability.It's not a sin if you charge a person for a grievous and costly misdeed.It will serve as a deterrent to other's.
Forgiveness does not mean that you should gloss over or deny the seriousness of an offense.
Finally,as we walk through Life,we would offend and be offended,but our ability to let go is what measures our maturity in Christ.
I once got a job to work as a sales representative for a boutique.Five days after resuming work,my employer came in and began to take stock of the things in the shop.He carefully did that as though he was told that I had stolen some of his goods.By the end of the stock taking exercise,goods worth about N50,000 were missing.After intercepting and interrogating me,he handed me over to the police as the suspect with no prove to show for it.At the end of the whole thing, sleeping in the cell, being punished unjustly and so on,he got away with N12,000 from me,But I never earned anything from him as salary.Days later I go a new job which I still enjoy till today.Now here's the main thing,I lived with that anger, resentment,revenge and feeling of always trying to prove my innocence until I came in contact with this truth about forgiveness and unforgivingness,and so I decided that I wasn't going to let anybody or circumstance determine my life and mood,and that was how I overcame and moved on.You too might be passing through the same issue.All you need to do is to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord and saviour;if you haven't,and ask Him for the grace to forgive and move on.Yours might not be forgiving others,but yourself.It may be as a result of a mistake, miscalculation or error done by you which you consider too shameful.Then you must forgive yourself first.Stop condemning yourself when God haven't condemned you.Forgive yourself and move on with Life.
So Forgive yourself, Forgive others and God will forgive you.Moreso, forgiveness is an invaluable gift that you can give to anyone,Can you give that gift now? Release those people from the prison of your heart and stop holding back that gift of FORGIVENESS from them?