By SUNITTA CHILAKA –
FORGIVENESS, forgive has been emphasised in the Bible many times from the Old to the New Testament. God has taught and shown us how important it is and why we should practice it every day.
Many Christians what to be forgive but they don’t want to forgive others.
Forgiving and forgetting a work mate, class mate or spouse who wronged you is a way to go because forgiving others opens us to receive forgiveness from God. Jesus forgave sins and encouraged us to forgive each other the same way.
“Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you Colossians 3:13.
The Bible warns us in Matthew 6:15 “But if you refuse to forgive others, your father will not forgive your sins”.It is easy to ask God to forgive us but difficult to grant it to others.
There is no wrong which is too big for one not to be forgiven, no matter how painful it might be to you, how you become a laughing stock, you have to forgive the person who wrong you and forget what they did. God has forgiven all our sins, we should not withhold forgiveness from others.
As we realise how completely Christ has forgiven us, it should produce an attitude of forgiveness toward others. Peter asked, the Lord how often should one forgive someone who sins against them, he personalizsed it but it is a great question which many of us have learned from.
Peter thought one must forgive seven times but Jesus corrected him that it should be seventy times seven.
In short the times we forgive are not even worth counting or reaching a maximum level but we should be glad that we forgive and forget.
Some Christians refuse to forgive those who are in wrong, they want them to be exposed and pay for the sins they committed. When robbers, prostitutes and ex-convicts go for church some believers feel offended.
The church is a place where they belong to because it is a place where one is built spiritually and their life given a meaning as they are living meaningless, meaningless lives. The church is the best place to preach the love of Christ to them and not when they are a gang and on duty at night.
Jesus not only taught frequently about forgiveness he also demonstrated his own willingness to forgive. He forgave those who crucified Him and the criminals at the cross, Luke 23:34,43 respectively.
There is one sin which many think it does not deserve forgiveness, this is adultery. Society has made everyone to believe that in an act of adultery, the woman has to pay and exposed while the man goes scot free and the identity withheld. The truth of the matter is that no one commits adultery alone. This following scripture silences all accusers’ opinion on the matter and how they feel about it.
John 8:3-11, the woman who was caught in adultery. There is no need to take the law into your hands, judge others according to your opinion or how you feel and how it should be dealt with especially when a woman is involved.
All things that are happening now are not new to God for the Bible to be re-written to provide answers, all these things solutions are found in the word of God. Adultery was there even in the time of Jesus.
The Jewish leaders had already disregarded the law by arresting the woman without the man. The law they claimed to know required that both parties of adultery be stoned to death, Leviticus 20:10, Deuteronomy 22:22.
The leaders used this woman as a trap so they could trick Jesus. If Jesus said the woman should not be stoned, they would accuse him of violating Moses’ law.
If He urged them to execute her, they would report Him to the Romans who did not allow the Jews to carry out their own executions.
Jesus upheld the legal penalty for adultery, stoning which they were longing to do but He urged only a sinless person to throw the first stone, He highlighted the importance of compassion and forgiveness.
The crowd was quick to judge the woman and yet they were in the same shoes. The older men were more aware of their sins, they were the first ones to leave, and then theyounger ones followed suit.
Jesus did not analyse the sin or question the woman what she was thinking committing adultery. Many are quick to judge, analyse the sin and speak as if they are the ones keeping the records on people infected with HIV/AIDS and the number of those taking drugs.
Numbers 12:1-10, Miriam and Aaron criticised Moses because he married a Cushite woman, in their opinion he was wrong and deserved to be punished but they ended up be dealt with as God was angry with them.
The judgment must be left to God, our role is to show forgiveness and compassion.
Jesus didn’t condemn the woman accused of adultery, neither did He ignore or condone her sin. Many think it is acceptable for one to commit adultery once because they can be forgiven, no this is not what the scripture teaches us. He told her to sin no more just like He told the man He healed to stop sinning or something even worse may happen to you, John 5:13.
Jesus stands ready to forgive any sin in your live, confession and repentance mean a change of heart. With God’s help we can accept Christ’s forgiveness and stop our wrongdoing.
Do not depart from the word of God, whatever circumstance and if Jesus has forgiven you, and then you return to your evil ways, then you have crucified Jesus again and caused him great shame, Hebrews 6:4-6. If you have not forgiven those who wronged you, it’s time to do so.