Failure to forgive is one of the greatest causes of mental illnesses there is. Jesus knew how easy it is to claim you have forgiven someone who offended you. As we continue with our series on divine health, we consider what God says about it. And you know that God’s ways and thoughts are higher – not simply better – than ours. That is why Jesus said you must forgive, not only with your lips but from the heart.
Now, that is a real problem for us because many of us find it hard to truly forgive. Some people say they forgive but cannot forget. Ha! If God were to mark our sins, who could stand? There is a way to know if unforgiveness is still lurking in your heart even after your lips say otherwise. When you think of that person, do you become angry? That means you have yet to forgive them from the heart. Does every thought of that person make your stomach bitter? You still have work to do to satisfy Jesus’ higher standards.
Why do we find forgiveness so hard? First, those who believe they don’t need forgiveness from God or from others find it most difficult. Are you in that category? You are implying that you are perfect and yet we know only God is perfect. That is arrogance and all you experience in life is resistance from God. But to the humble, the Christian who seeks and gives forgiveness, God increases grace. The man who is unable to forgive from his heart is thinking more highly of himself than he ought to. Psychologists call such people narcissists.
Forgiven To Forgive
That is simply a big word for someone who thinks too highly of themselves. And yet the Bible says we must not think too highly of ourselves. Why? Because when you think highly of yourself, you reach a point when you believe you no longer need God. And how is God going to help anyone who does not need Him? You immediately make yourself an enemy of God. Because unless you draw close to God, He does not draw close to you. That means that unless you learn to forgive from the heart, God is far from you.
No, I am not making that up. Read it for yourself in James 4.8. Is that why the Lord’s prayer contains the phrase “as we forgive others? You know the prayer that Jesus taught His disciples. A verse of that prayer says: “forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” Unless you are willing to forgive others from the heart, don’t even pray for God to forgive you. It will never happen. You can pray until you are blue in the face and you will not receive forgiveness. Learn to forgive from the heart and you may not even need to pray for forgiveness.
Unless you forgive, you are on your own, with only your arrogance to keep you company. God abandons you; your former friends, tiring of your self-centeredness, also abandon you. Such a person suffers from loneliness. And loneliness may in turn lead to excessive drug and alcohol use. It may even lead to pornography and sexual deviance. And all because he finds it difficult to forgive from his heart. Hopefully, this will lead you to make the effort toward genuine forgiveness of any who has offended you.
With Jesus, Everything Is From The Heart
In addition, unless you learn to forgive, you are exposing yourself as a non-Christian, an unbeliever. Because, how can you claim to have received forgiveness from God when you are unable to give it? If you are not able to give forgiveness, does that not imply you’re still in your unforgiven state? Or what the bible calls sin? If you have experienced God’s pardon, you are ready to forgive others from the heart. It is as simple as that.
And that is not all that Jesus, with His higher law, wants from the heart. He says if you hate your brother, you have murdered him in your heart. If you lust, you have committed adultery in your heart. We could go on and on but summarize it this way. “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.”
The issue of life with which we are concerned today is forgiveness. Will you determine to forgive others from the heart? May God give you the grace to do so.
Stay tuned
Maranatha!
