I thought that when I accepted Jesus Christ as my saviour, my sins were and will be forgiven.
But then I read 14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew 6)
That seems like a different deal. Is my being forgiven conditional upon my ability to forgive others? Cuz if it is, I’m in trouble. (I understand that I need to ask to be forgiven everyday, cuz I muck up everyday.)
What confuses me is that even after I thought I’d forgiven someone, I will still think and say spiteful things about that person. Maybe less spiteful than before, and less often than before, but the forgiving thing seems to be a process. Not a switch that I can flip. Does my inability to forgive 100%, once and for all mean “neither will my Father forgive my trespasses?”
I know there’s something I’m not understanding here. What is it?
I think forgiveness is both a switch and a process. The switch is the decision to forgive. The process is bringing your feelings and emotions into line with that decision, and that can take a long time and be very hard.
I don’t think your salvation is at risk, but if you know that you are forgiven and that God expects you to forgive also, out of love for Him, we forgive. Make sense? It’s not based on your feelings.
that’s the part that is such a relief and that I keep forgetting – as you wrote, “It’s not based on your feelings.” Sincerely,Beth Fowler 717-968-1938 Owner: Home Presentation LLChttp://www.bethhomestaging.comAccredited Staging Professional Volunteer: SCORE http://www.yorkscore.org
“….Luke. In chapter 6,
we come to those familiar words, “forgive and you will be
forgiven” (v. 37). We also remember those similar words in
the Lord’s prayer, “forgive us our sins, for we also forgive
everyone who is indebted to us” (11:4). In Matthew, we read
Jesus’ exhortation and warning that follows this model
prayer: “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly
Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive
men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your
trespasses” (Matt. 6:14, 15).
If we looked at these verses with the same shallowness
with which many Christians approach other Scripture
verses, we would conclude that we earn our forgiveness by
forgiving others. But Christian teachers and theologians
would quickly cry, “Heresy,” with respect to any such claim.
Biblical commentators take pains to clearly explain that the
thrust of these verses is not an assertion that we can merit
forgiveness by forgiving others, “rather it is evidence that
the grace of God is at work in the forgiving person . . . to fail
to forgive others is to demonstrate that one has not felt the
saving touch of God.”10
But for those of us who have experienced that saving
touch, it happened when we obeyed while hearing our
Savior say, “Repent, and believe the good news.”
from ch. 2
http://textsincontext.wordpress.com/2012/11/11/love-prayer-and-forgiveness-now-also-in-ebook-format/
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