If disciples are to be known for our love, that means we need to forgive each other. This daily devotional looks at why Jesus expected us to forgive others.
Nuggets
- Disciples are to have a spirit of forgiveness.
- Jesus told the disciples a parable to illustrate how to show forgiveness to others.
- Jesus showed us what not imitating God looks like.
Devotions in How to Love Our Neighbors series
We are called to love our neighbors by forgiving them. That can be really difficult to do sometimes.
Peter asked Jesus about how forgiving we should be. Jesus’ response was to tell a parable.
Before we look at that parable, let’s talk about Seiss’ warning. We should not try to apply this to anything money related, property related, or punishment related.
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This parable is talking about grace. Period.
Let's Put It into Context #1
Here is a running list of nuggets for the series.
The Meaning of Forgiveness
“Then Peter came up and said to him, ‘Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times’” (Mt. 18: 21-22 ESV)
Disciples are to have a spirit of forgiveness.
We have to love Peter. He is so like us!
Basically, what Peter asked Jesus was, “When is enough, enough? When can I write off this person who has wronged me?”
Think about it. Someone has just injured our feelings or tried to damage our reputation. Maybe they actually injured us or destroyed our property.
We have a bone to pick with them! And we will be picking that bone for days to come!!!
In other words, we think like Peter did. Forgiveness is optional and exceptional.
Jesus said, “No, it isn’t. You can’t withhold forgiveness.”
One of the good, old churchy words to which this has been translated is forbearing. It is generally translated as patient these days.
Hmmm. Totally different concepts in my book.
Forbearing has an aspect of restraint mixed in it.
Maybe we see that in being patient. But I don’t think so.
Don’t we generally look at someone who we term as possessing patience and think that is their nature? That is just who they are.
That would mean I may not be able to be patient and forgiving if I wasn’t born that way.
But what does forbearance have to do with forgiveness? Schneck argued that forbearance is a totally different action than forgiveness.
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I can see that. But I also see where forbearance has its place in forgiveness.
When I look at restraint, I think it is more of a choice. “I really want to get mad at you for what you did. But I am going to choose to not retaliate. I am going to choose to repair our relationship.”
Isn’t that what forgiveness is all about?
Usually when we have been wronged, we want it rectified — now! That isn’t what Jesus was after.
It isn’t about us — it is about them. Watson wrote, “Jesus Christ has more respect still to the character, repentance, and restoration of the individual who has offended. It is difficult to realize that the offender has inflicted a worse injury on himself than on the offended, the injury he has wrought on his own spirit.”
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Ooo baby. That is different than the worldview. The worldview says that forgiveness is about us and us letting go.
Jesus said forgiveness is about them changing their ways to stop sinning.
Griffith told us that we show forbearance by a generous spirit. What does that mean?
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When we think of someone who is generous, we think of someone who gives over and beyond what others would give. They may even give more than that which is expected from the situation.
That is what generous is. What about spirit?
Our spirit is our renewed mind: God’s law has been written within us at the heart-level, so it has changed our character.
Because God’s laws have been written within us at the heart-level, we forgive over and beyond what others would and more than that which is expected from the situation.
We have to remember that we are a family. God’s law must be applied inside the family as well as outside it.
Applying Forgiveness
“Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt” (Mt. 18: 22-27 ESV)
Jesus told the disciples a parable to illustrate how to show forgiveness to others.
We all have sin in our lives. Yeah, we may rationalize that someone else’s sin is “worse” than ours.
The bottom line is “… all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3: 23 ESV).
The moral of the story is that everyone needs forgiveness.
But it is more than that, too. Who gets to settle the accounts? The king — God.
God doesn’t ask our opinion on what is or isn’t a sin. He decided. He decided this a long time ago.
What was the measuring stick God used? His character. What is or isn’t acceptable is based on Who He is.
No, God didn’t set it on pet peeves. He didn’t just pull things out of a hat.
God wanted to make us like Him.
Why is this important to us? We owe a debt to God. He made us. We rebelled. We need restoration.
Taylor had an interesting observation. We talk about debt and duty. He wrote, “Debt in the New Testament is a common figure for sin; but duty is a moral thing, not a commercial. It is used figuratively to denote an obligation which one has failed to meet.”
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We talk about having an obligation to pay our debts. The problem is, we are never going to be able to pay our debt to God.
The only way our debt to God gets paid is to accept the fact that Jesus paid the penalty for us.
That means we can’t just be a good person and expect God to forgive us. All these self-help programs aren’t going to take our sins away. Promising future obedience doesn’t make up for sins of the past.
The only way our sins are forgiven is if we admit that mankind was separated from God after the original sin, making us sinners; believe Jesus paid the penalty for those sins to become our Savior and Redeemer; confess God as Sovereign God; and demonstrate that commitment by submitting to living our lives following His laws and commandments.
Only way.
But what is this parable telling us? Once we are forgiven of our sins, we are compelled to forgive others.
No, that doesn’t mean ignore the wrong someone else has done to us. It doesn’t mean remaining in an abusive relationship.
What this means is that forgiving others is a way to imitate God. That is what being a disciple is all about.
True, we can never out-forgive God. He made us new creations when He forgave us. That won’t make us gods.
Glossary
We will still stumble and sin. But we have to commit to trying to follow His laws and commandments — and forgiving others.
Macleod explained that what Jesus was describing was a continuous flow of forgiveness. We never stop forgiving others.
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Forgiveness is important. It is important that we are forgiven and that we forgive others.
When Forgiveness Isn’t Applied
“But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart” (Mt. 18: 28-35 ESV)
Jesus showed us what not imitating God looks like.
The servant in Jesus’ parable went out and did the exact opposite of what happened to him. He wasn’t forgiving and merciful.
The servant didn’t imitate God. Forgiveness is one of His defining attributes. How can we say we are like Him when we don’t forgive.
I see you jumping up and down over there. I hear you saying, “But we aren’t God. We can’t do this.”
I get it. It is hard for me to be forgiving sometimes.
But Macleod begged to differ. He wrote, “The Holy Spirit is given to mould us to the form of mercy which is in Him. It is a reasonable and ample provision.”
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The Holy Spirit helps us be who we should be. It is part of our sanctification process. Sanctification is the transformation of mind, body, and soul, which begins with regeneration; gradually changes our nature and morals through the promptings of the Holy Spirit; and ends with perfected state of spiritual wholeness or completeness.
- Regeneration is being changed from spiritually dead to spiritually alive and the internal new birth and requickening that God brings about through the work of the Holy Spirit to give us new character.
- Spiritual death is the separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin.
- The spiritually alive are those who have ABCDed, so they are no longer separated from God.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Spiritual graces are worldly morals that have been submitted to God to further His kingdom instead of enhancing this world.
- Sanctified means to be set free from sin.
- Righteous means we are free from sin because we are following God’s moral laws.
- Spiritual death is the separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Glossary
There is hope for us yet!
Forgiveness starts with kindness. We can’t be forgiving if we aren’t kind.
Does all this mean that our forgiveness from God is tied up with how forgiving we are of others?
Seiss said no. Our forgiving others is not the foundation on which God forgives us.
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Usually when we think of forgiving others, we think of the Lord’s Prayer. “and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us” (Mt. 6: 12 NLT).
This is something we can just pray about — but we have to do more. We have to put the forgiveness into action.
Sometimes, we have a tendency to see it as a threat. “If I don’t forgive her, God isn’t going to forgive me.”
Doesn’t that seem like what is implied here? Taylor wrote, “All who accept God’s pardon are at the same time renewed into His image by the power of the Holy Spirit; and so resembling Him in character, they seek to do unto others as He has done to them.”
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What are the consequences of not forgiving someone? What if we think we have but really haven’t?
Making the Connections
We see a wonderful picture of Jesus here. He forgives us when we reject Him.
Even when we ask Him to be our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus keeps on forgiving us.
What we cannot read this to mean is that Jesus will forgive us without our asking Him to do so. That isn’t going to happen.
The only way Jesus saves us and totally forgives us of our sin is if we confess our need to Him. We have to show that confess is genuine by changing our hearts and lives.
How Do We Apply This?
Griffith offered us a challenge. He wrote, “Unlimited forgiveness you will say is unpractical. Put it into action, and let it fail. Christianity conquers by failing; its martyrs are its victors. This is not a dead law; but life-giving.”
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For some, it can be a difficult concept that salvation is free but there is more expected of us. There is also this misconception that salvation gives us license to sin.
Macleod gave us a perfect quote to address that. He wrote, “Pardon is not salvation; there must be holiness as well.
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Forgiveness is on God’s part. Transformation — which God accomplishes — is our part.
- Change our mindset on what forgiveness is and when we should give it.
- Keep our injuries to ourselves and not broadcast them.
- Show gratitude to God by forgiving others.
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Father God. We thank You for loving us and forgiving us. Help us to imitate You and forgive others. Amen.
What do you think?
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