"Forgiveness is more than the remission of penalty; it should mean the restoration of a broken fellowship." - Anonymous
The story is told of a father in Spain who was estranged from his son for many years. His father searched constantly for him but always came up empty. Finally in a desperate attempt to find him the father put an ad in the Madrid newspaper that read: "Dear Paco, meet me in front of the newspaper office at noon. All is forgiven. I love you, your father." The next day at noon in front of the newspaper office, more than 800 "Paco's" showed up, all seeking forgiveness and love from their fathers.
"Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come. All this is from God who reconciled Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them." - 2 Corinthians 5:17-19
We have all probably heard the phrase, "To err is human, to forgive, divine." But the Bible will not stop that short. God gives believers the power of forgiveness too. But to forgive is only one step in the process. The next step is reconciliation, that is, putting back together the relationship that was broken. Few Christians seems to be willing to go the extra step.
So what does God say about this? Is forgive and forget the minimum standard by which we can get by or does God expect more than a minimum of effort? Let's see what Scripture has to say about it. Enjoy!
Matthew 6:9-15
Matthew 18:21-22
Matthew 5:23-24
2 Corinthians 2:5-11
Sneak peek into next week - Unjust death
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This speaks not only to forgiving others but to forgiving ourselves. God alone is responsible for complete restoration, otherwise we think it is about us and what we can do and we diminish grace! There must be godly sorrow and repentance for forgiveness. When it is genuine it produces the fruit of repentance (Matt 3:8)which can be identified as humility and gratitude. Once this has occurred, to quote Beth Moore, "I would be a hypcrite if I refused anyone the right to draw from the bottomless well of God's grace and try again."
ReplyDeleteI "heard" many more comments from folks who read this week's edition but who did not blog an answer, so I am pleased that this study is still of use.
ReplyDeleteI agree that God alone can "complete" our restoration, but we as disciples are also given the authority to bind or loose sins here on earth. The power of forgiveness is indeed overwhelming, but even more so is the act of restoring a broken relationship out of that forgiveness. The joy is incalculable!
It is not always physically possible to do this, but where the opportunity presents itself, Scripture compels us to do more than the minimum required, we should do all we can. That includes rebuilding love that was damaged.
Thanks again to everyone who has been struggling with the topic this week!