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.
Forgiving is hard and it can be very hard...When we get mad at someone, after they have wronged us, it seems difficult for us to forgive...But Jesus often talked about the subject of forgiveness and how we should and must forgive others...Even our enemies...
Jesus teaches us much about forgiveness...In the LORD's prayer He teaches us about forgiveness...He tells us to forgive everyone who sins against us...When we can and are able to forgive everyone then our Father will forgive us...In Jesus' parable of the unmerciful servant, He teaches us that we must forgive like the merciful master forgave his unmerciful servant...Because God forgives us, we must be ready and able to forgive everyone...The unmerciful servant cannot forgive others who has sinned against him, even though his master has forgiven him...God will treat us like we treat our neighbors (Matthew 18:35)...The forgiving process is hard...We generally carry around a pain, a suffering when one sins against us...We seem to want to (or feel we have to) carry around this thought of the pain, and maybe want a little (or a lot) revenge of some sorts...The sinner must suffer some or so we might think...But we are taught to forgive everyone who sins against us (Luke 11:4)...
Jesus died on the cross for our sins...So we are forgiven everyday and each day we live...But we are not to go on sinning in the future, we are to repent...But Jesus knows we will sin in the future...If Jesus died for our future sins, then we would not have to forgive others when they sin against us, because these future sins would have been forgiven, and then there would be no reason for us to forgive others...He tells us to forgive everyone who sins against us...That is why in His prayer we are commanded to forgive others, as our Father will forgive us...Our future sins and our ability to forgive everyone (who sins against us) are linked to us being able to forgive...This is hard...It is hard because in one way, we want God to forgive us, but we want to carry around this painful feeling and our unforgiving thoughts toward others...Sometimes we don't want to forgive those who have sinned against us...But this is not what Jesus teaches...
Maybe the problem of the pain that we harbor and hold inside is the very reason one does not want to forgive...Forgiveness is painful...We have been hurt...It is the problem of pain...When one is hurt, the one sinned against must look the sin and pain square in the face and feel the pain...True forgiveness does not try to give this pain we feel back to the one who has sinned against us...This is very difficult, especially if one is or has greatly suffered...And the act of you forgiving may not subside the pain you feel at all...
Our Father understands these things...He suffered...Our Father sent His Son to the cross for our sins...To watch your Son die, is the worst and most painful thing that could happen in One's eternal life...A father on earth and our Father in heaven would never forget this (of watching their S(s)on die)...Jesus did not sin, we did...He died for us, for our sins...Sometimes I think we forget this...This is what my sins did to My forgiving Master...The next time one sins, we must think about the sin and pain we suffer and think of our LORD...He died not only for us, but the one who sinned against us...He also died for not only the sin we are to forgive, but for our pain we are suffering... He died on the cross...He felt His pain...He feels our pain when we suffer...He created us...He is our LORD and our God, how could He not feel the pain we are going through...
Pain and suffering are often a part of the sin and forgiveness process...God knows this...God felt the pain of His Son's death...We feel the pain when one sins against us...We are not in this alone...The Father and Son understand...But He teaches us to forgive others, and when we do, He will forgive us...