W5D5 The Joy Of Forgiving

READ THE BIBLE

2 Corinthians 2:10

But one whom you forgive anything, I forgive also; for indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, I did it for your sakes in the presence of Christ, so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.

Matthew 18: 21

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins.

He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’ “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.

When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened. “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

REFLECT ON WHAT IT MEANS

In 1997 Pastor Cesar Castellanos was with his family is a car when an attempt was made on his life. The car was sprayed with bullets and he was shot 5 times and his wife once. Miraculously none of the children were hurt. For 10 days he fought for his life in intensive care, as his wife prayed constantly for him. By God’s mercy he pulled through. But what about his feelings towards the people that did this to him?

For some days he prayed that God would judge those men and punish them. In this time he lost his inner joy and the feeling of the Holy Spirit being with him. When he prayed and asked God what was going on he felt God say to him, “Have you forgiven the people who wanted to kill you?”

Now, there is forgiveness and there is forgiveness, but this was a big ask. How can anyone forgive that level of wrong against them? After God spoke to him, Pastor Cesar realised he had no choice but to forgive. Even though he didn’t at all feel like it in his emotions, he chose to forgive those men and asked God to save them through Jesus. The result was that peace and joy returned to his heart. It did him a whole world of good to forgive those men, even though they didn’t ask for it or really deserve it!

In our Bible readings today we learn that unforgiveness is a scheme of our enemy, Satan. Unforgiveness is a trick and a trap of the enemy. The writer, Paul, says that Satan takes advantage of us through unforgiveness.

We do harm to ourselves, not the other person, when we don’t forgive.

The story Jesus tells is of a person who is forgiven a massive debt by their master. Then, they are really unforgiving of a tiny, little debt that’s owed to them. They end up in a prison, locked up in a bad place. This is what unforgiveness does, it locks us up, inside ourselves. It stops us relating properly to God, to others even to ourselves. It robs us of peace and joy inside of us. It puts us in a prison that we don’t get out of until we truly cancel the debt and forgive whoever has wronged us.

RELATE IT TO YOUR LIFE

Like Pastor Cesar, what is God saying to your heart about forgiving? Bravely ask yourself, Who do I need to forgive? Think: “What’s that little niggle in my heart that I want to put down and say, ‘Oh I’ve dealt with that. It’s not an issue.’” If we still feel it, it’s still an issue! Whatever God is niggling you about in your heart and conscience, go with it and forgive. It will bring such joy into your life - and save you from Satan’s schemes!

RESPOND WITH A DECLARATION

“Thank you Lord for forgiving me my huge debt to you; today, I choose to forgive …”