Forgive Like God

Have you ever paused to consider how forgiving our God is? We disobey him, ignore him, hide from him, take him for granted, receive gifts from him without thanking him, and sometimes we even curse him. All the while, he is waiting, ready to forgive us if we would just come back to him and repent. We may even sin multiple times in a day, yet he is still merciful. If we come to him in sincerity, he is ready to forgive us. So when he asks us to forgive those who have wronged us, he is not asking us to do something he hasn’t done himself. Jesus says in Luke, Chapter 17, verses 3 and 4: 

“So watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”

For some, this mandate is more difficult than for others. Some of you have been severely wronged. Some have been abused. Others have been cheated and lied to. And still others have been stolen from or taken advantage of. It never ceases to amaze me what one human being is capable of doing to another. But, if we want to reflect the character of God, we need to remember what Jesus says. “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.” So like God, we are told to forgive. But unlike God, we may not forget. When we repent, Psalms reminds us that “as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” And in Hebrews the Lord declares, “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” God has the ability to do that, but even though we aren’t built that way, we are still called to forgive. God will help us to deal with the remembering part.

---

What does it look like to forgive? It doesn’t mean that we are to behave as if nothing ever happened. And it doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be on our guard against another offense or to let someone walk all over us by inviting them to continually hurt us. The dictionary describes forgiveness this way: “to stop feeling angry or resentful toward (someone) for an offense, flaw, or mistake.” So, forgiveness is as much about our personal healing as it is for the healing of a relationship. It may not mean that we will embrace the person who has wronged us. But it does mean that we can stop feeling angry or resentful towards them. It means that we are allowing ourselves find peace and allowing God to heal our hearts. If their repentance is true, then with the help of the Holy Spirit, true healing can begin. That is why it is so important that when we sin, our repentance is true. Only then can we begin to heal and rebuild our relationship with God. So I challenge you to do what Jesus says. “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”

Required

I love Christian songs that incorporate biblical scripture within the lyrics. I’m sure you’ve seen this quite often in worship songs and hymns that you sing in church. But there are several contemporary artists who’ve done this as well. One of my favorite Steven Curtis Chapman songs is, “The Walk”. In it, he recites part of Micah chapter 6, verse 8 which says:

“He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

This comes after the Lord chastises his people through the prophet Micah for worshipping other gods. He lets the Israelites know what is required of them and he breaks it down into three seemingly simple things. As with so much of the Bible, I believe that these required mandates are for us as well. First he says that we are to act justly. Our God is a just God, and if we are to reflect his nature, we need to be just as well. We should want, and pray, for justice. As God hates to see the guilty go free and the innocent condemned, we should too. We also need to love mercy. If we don’t show mercy to others, mercy may not be shown to us. It is difficult to do, but God modeled this for us when he sent his son to die for our sins. Finally, we are to walk humbly with our God. God loves a broken and contrite heart. He loves a humble spirit. Not only does he love it, he notices it and rewards it. I encourage you to pursue these godly attributes. We should all aspire to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with our God.

---

Try to imagine what it must look like to live a life in line with the requirements God put upon the Israelites in Micah, chapter 6; to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with our God. What would that actually look like? You may know someone who is walking these principles out in their life. You may even be that person. But if you aren’t, I encourage you to think on what it might look like in your life. Would you have to change anything in your life to act justly in all of your interactions and your philosophy concerning judgment? Do you love mercy? Do you love it even when you’ve been wronged and are the one called to be merciful? And do you walk humbly with God? Do you know your place in relation to him? These are certainly attributes that are good and holy. Every believer should pursue them. And in Micah, God requires this of his people. Let us make every effort to let them mold us more into the character of Jesus.

Glory Redirected

It is human nature to want to be praised, honored, liked, adored, and highly thought of. We love to be recognized for our achievements, seated among the elite, and glorified among the masses. But the Bible teaches us that believers need to suppress this desire. We need to remain humble in the sight of man, but more importantly, in the sight of God. True believers know that every good thing comes from God. It is to him, and for his name, that all glory should be placed, because in Psalm, chapter 115, verse 1, we find these words:

“Not to us, O Lord, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness.”

The author of this Psalm wisely, and humbly, redirected any glory back to where it belongs. Only God deserves the glory, and only God deserves our praise. The wisdom behind this Psalm, when applied, can remind us of our place in relation to the creator of the universe. For us, God is everything. All of our love, our adoration, and our heart, soul, mind and strength should be upon the glorification of God. It would do all of us well, to brand this verse upon our heart. When we reflect upon it, it should suppress our pride. “Not to us, O Lord, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness.”

---

It goes against our nature to want to redirect any glory that we receive back to God. When someone exalts us, we want to bask in it. When someone congratulates us, we want to take credit for it. When someone honors us, we want to think we deserve it. And when we are glorified, we don’t want to share it. But in all cases, humility is the right path. True believers know this because the Bible teaches it. This Psalm is only one example of this principle, but it is evident throughout the scriptures. So I encourage you, with your mouth and with your heart, to redirect any glory that is poured upon you back to where it belongs. After all, every good thing comes from him, and the Bible attests that he will not share his glory with anyone.

Like a Child

Remember when you were a child? Anything your parents told you, no matter how outlandish, you believed. They may have told you that Santa Claus was real; that a large man with a big heart who lives at the North Pole would magically fly all around the world on a sleigh giving presents to good children every Christmas. Or you may have been told that when you lose a tooth and place it under your pillow, the tooth fairy will come at night and replace it with money. Whatever your parents told you, you believed. You believed because you had the faith of a child. Faith is one of the most important ingredient in any believer’s life. The Bible reminds us that without faith it is impossible to please God. That is why Jesus says in Luke, chapter 18, verse 17:

“I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

Why did Jesus use this analogy? Because he knows that children have great faith. It is easy for them to believe in the impossible. How is your faith? Are you able to believe in the impossible? Do you really believe that nothing is impossible with God? Do you believe that when you pray for the miraculous it can, and will, happen? Jesus tells us to believe and not to doubt when we pray. In essence, he is telling us to pray with the faith of a child. It takes great faith to believe in the salvation that Jesus offers. We must first believe in God. We must believe there is a heaven and a hell. And we must believe that sin is real and has real consequences. We must believe in the virgin birth of Jesus, his resurrection from the dead, and the promise of eternal life with him; all this without seeing any of it with our own eyes. But if we have the faith of a child, it isn’t difficult to know that it is all true. I encourage you to have the faith of a child. 

---

I’ve been open about my belief in the danger of teaching a child that Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, or the Easter Bunny are real. If you are a parent, or when you become a parent, I would encourage you to heed this warning. A child’s faith is great. They will believe whatever you tell them. So, if you lie to them about fictitious characters, what will happen when you tell them about Jesus? Can a parent really expect a child to know which stories are true and which are false? I believe that these kinds of innocent games can actually erode a child’s faith, especially as they grow older. But if you tell them the truth at the beginning; if you purpose in your heart that you will not lie to them about any such thing, when you tell them the fantastic and scientifically unbelievable story of Jesus, you will never have to later tell them it was a lie. Their faith can grow, not erode. I know many believers think telling their child that Santa Claus is real is harmless. But I encourage you to consider the ramifications of that fantasy. Not only will it crush their little spirits when they learn the truth, but you may have unwittingly planted seeds of doubt that may ultimately affect their very salvation.

Price of Hypocrisy

It is no secret that one reason many unbelievers reject “religion” is because of what they perceive as hypocrisy within the church. The natural response from believers is to explain that Christians are just human beings; that we are not perfect, that we make mistakes, and that we are still sinners even though we “follow” Christ. When we respond in that way are we, in effect, making excuses for our hypocrisy? Are we side-stepping their argument by justifying sin? Are we pushing unbelievers further away by agreeing with them that hypocrisy can be found within the church while, at the same time, not condemning that same hypocrisy? If we do, I would argue that unbelievers are, in a way, justified in their resistances to the faith. If we are okay with not practicing what we preach, or condoning or minimizing the sin that we commit, how can unbelievers see that we are any different than the world? Paul warns the Jews about this in Romans, chapter 2, verses 21-24 which says:

“You, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? As it is written: ‘God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.’”

It is true that we all sin. But to justify, or to minimize, sin when addressing any hypocrisy that the world sees in the church, in my opinion, is counter productive. One problem I have with how far the world has gone away from biblical principles, is that, not only is it happening, but sinful behavior is being celebrated and presented as “good”. We, as believers, should at least acknowledge that even though hypocrisy can be found in the church, that it shouldn’t be, that it isn’t good and that God is against it. When we justify hypocrisy, we begin to sound like the world. Without saying it, we may project the idea that it is okay; that it is normal and expected behavior. We may even begin to project that it is accepted behavior. When we do, we may find that “God’s name is blasphemed” among unbelievers because of it.

---

I understand the sentiment behind believers saying that the main difference between believers and unbelievers is that we are forgiven. But shouldn’t our differences be more than that? The Bible reminds us that we are to live in the world but we are not of the world. We shouldn’t look like them and we shouldn’t act like them. When we minimize sin, we are saying, whether overtly or in the subtext, that “we are just like you, we only claim to be different”. We are saying that sin and Christianity does, and should, go hand in hand. But that is not what the Bible says. The Bible reminds us that sin separates us from God. It reminds us that we shouldn’t use our security in Christ as a license to sin. It reminds us that we are to be perfect as Christ is perfect. That is the goal. Yes, we fall short, but we should never be okay with that, because when we are it could be said that, “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”