Concerning the Struggle to Forgive Others

[BlessedBrian1989]

The Lord recently shared something with me about forgiveness that has tremendously helped me to forgive others. If you're also struggling with forgiveness I hope this will help you as much as it has helped me.

Tonight I was struggling with the nature of forgiveness. Specifically, I was struggling to understand why I should forgive the American people for the cruelty they’ve shown toward the Vietnam veterans over the years who were serving their country to the best of their ability. Also I was struggling to forgive the media for their deliberate omissions and blatant lies which were made only for the advancement of their careers and which in turn caused those men tremendous suffering when they returned home. My human nature told me that I should not forgive them, nor were they deserving of forgiveness.

However, the Lord had laid it on my heart that I should forgive them. So I turned to Him in prayer and asked Him why should I forgive them? He spoke to me asking if I imagined myself better than any of them. I told Him that I suppose I’m not, because I have been taught that all sin weighs the same in the eyes of the Lord. He then asked me how I expected Him to forgive me of my sins when I cannot forgive them, even though their sin weighs the same as mine. To that I asked Him to help me understand further. He told me to imagine a child who was raised and told every lie and every false truth. Naturally he will grow up to believe those things and spread them to others. All the while this man believes to his core that he is right. The Lord asked me that even though the man is wrong, is it fair to judge and blame him even though it’s no fault of his own that he was raised to believe these things? Nor was it the fault of his teachers, because the same things were taught to them as well. Nor should I blame their teachers for the same reasons and so on. Again He explained it this way: You cannot blame a man who will not swim when he was never taught how to swim, and you cannot blame a blind man for not seeing when he doesn’t have the eyes to see. To this the Lord added, and as for evil: you cannot blame a snake for slithering. That is the snake’s nature. Evil does what evil does, and it’s hardly useful to fret over it. All you can do is work to overcome it.

 

[DiscipleHeLovesToo]

that's a great explanation of why people do evil things - and why none of us is qualified to judge the motives of anther person. at the same time, there is a Godly use of hatred - we aren't expected to simply crush hatred down into a little space deep inside us, but to direct hatred to the proper individual, the devil. if we forgive others, but do not direct the hatred of the evil the devil worked through them to the devil himself, we've only done half of what's needed - we've failed to recognize that the devil is the root originator of all evil. he is the one who accuses people of sourcing the evil they do, and to forgive people, without hating the devil that prompts them to do evil, empowers him to accuse other people in our lives of the evil they work, rather than stifle the devil's ability to prompt us to accuse others wrongly to begin with.

Pro 8:13 KJV
(13) The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.

Rev 12:9-11 KJV
(9) And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
(10) And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
(11) And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

 

[episkopos]

Christian Forgiveness

And that ye put on the NEW MAN...
Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
(Ephesians 4:24, 31, 32)

The Bible tells us that when we are born again, we become “new men”, or “new creatures”.
When a man becomes a doctor or an army officer, he is expected to behave in a certain way. In the same way, a certain pattern of behaviour is expected of anyone who claims to be a Christian or a “new man”.

One of the primary qualities of a new man is that he forgives. The new man should not live in unforgiveness.

According to biblical principles, the new man must not live his life according to what goes on in this world. In the world, people hardly forgive. It is natural for a person not to forgive, but to seek revenge. However, when you become a new man, God expects you to forgive.
Indeed, one cardinal difference between the Christian and the unbeliever is that the Christian has the ability to forgive and release the offender.
A new man must be able to forgive!”

“Forgiveness made easy.” Dag Heward-Mills.

 

[Goodbook]

Jesus said as he was dying on the cross to his Father to forgive his tormenters as they didnt know what they were doing.

The only unforgiveable sin is the blasphemy of the holy spirit as that is deliberate.

As christians we are to forgive as our Father has forgiven us, cos remember when we were lost we didnt really know what we were doing. We did things out of ignorance and unbelief. But now we know the truth.