2 Chronicles 7:14
A Forgiving Father
14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Matthew 6:14-15
Our Forgiving Father
14For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Luke 23:34
On Forgiveness
34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
Our natural response when someone does us wrong is to think about revenge...But our Father and His Son are not like and they do not teach that...They teach us to give up the type of thinking that wants revenge and wants payback...And especially when the sin against one or one's family or friends is especially mean and heinous, it is no easy task (to put it lightly) -to forgive...The feeling of an empty heart, a great loss, a great betrayal are hard to push out and get out of the heart...Forgiveness produces a bitterness...We feel victimized...But forgiveness is one of the Christian doctrines...We have a Forgiving Father and a Forgiving Son...
God teaches us about forgiveness in Chronicles...He is gracious...If we call His Name, and humble ourselves, pray to Him, seek His face, and turn from our wicked ways then He will forgive our sins...
Jesus in teaching us to pray in the LORD's prayer, He teaches us about forgiveness...When we forgive others who have sinned against us, our Father in Heaven will also forgive us...So we must forgive others to be forgiving ourselves...How odd...Especially, when the victim of a sin or loss has done no wrong...But God is Love...And pure love knows and understands that love requires forgiveness... Jesus teaches us that those who forgive little, love little...
For many people forgiveness can take time...Forgiveness always requires an open heart...And most of the time it is a process, not a one time event...
When Jesus is arrested and going to die on the cross, He tells His Father to forgive those who are torturing Him for they do not know what they are doing...Jesus somehow accepted the position He was in and forgave the guards taking Him and putting Him on the cross...In a sense, the ones taking Him to the cross knew what they were doing, but they did not know Him...He was going to die on the cross for our sins, for my sins and yours...When we think about Jesus on the cross, we must think, that is what my sins did...Blaming others for Jesus dying is not the way of the cross...Him dying on the cross was for our sins...The jailers and guards were just there doing what they were being told what to do...He, at the same time, was able to forgive His enemies (who hung Him on the cross), as He hung tortured and dying on the cross...Jesus has paved the way for our forgiveness...And in the end, we are all in need of forgiveness...
Believers will go to heaven and it will not be because they are nice, they are good workers, or because of their respectable acts...Believers in Jesus and the One who sent Him will go to heaven because the LORD forgives...Jesus dying on the cross has made that possible...