Forgiveness - One of the definitions of forgiveness is the disposition to pardon. WOW! Not just the act of forgiving, but the disposition to forgive.So the offender, well offends, then the person wronged doesn't just speak the words,"It's okay."...they must possess a behavior of forgiving!!!
Forgiveness is the temperament of the mind. A habit, so to speak a mental state or emotion, in order to offer true forgiveness. A willingness to cancel the offense. Forgiveness is an action noun! It's funny how I see the word used daily, yet I didn't fully or truly understand the meaning.
When Christ forgave me of my sins, it was His willingness to cancel the offense. Jesus went to the cross and sacrificed Himself to wipe out my wrongs. Not just mine, but all wrongs and offenses. He was accused, but was blameless, not one of us can say the same. He was tortured, tried unjustly, then condemned without evidence, and yet never once called on the league of angels ready and waiting to come to His aid. He carried a cross, was nailed to it and then offered forgiveness to those people committing the offense. As the nails sank into His flesh, He still loved. He still forgave them as they pierced his side with a spear. He forgave and forgave until His dieing breath, then as He rose and conquered death Jesus still offers forgiveness freely.
He had a disposition to pardon. His entire ministry and life reflected that disposition. His death carried the sins and His resurrection gave us hope of redemption and reconciliation with God by His act of forgiveness.
I say all this to let you know He is my Savior not because I deserve it, but because His willingness to forgive me. He died with an attitude of love. He suffered-His beard torn from His face. His skin ripped, bleeding; thorns embedded into His head. He was humiliated; His clothes stripped from His body. He was beaten almost beyond recognition. He became my Savior as He hung dieing on the cross. He became my redeemer when He rose from the tomb.
How often I forget, how and why He died...How many times do I take the sacrifice for granted...How often am I honored by the sacrifice...How often do I need the pardon, the canceling of my sins and atonement...How amazing is Jesus, to love and forgive...How much God loves me to send His only son to reconcile my unrepentant heart...How often I am stunned speechless by His disposition of forgiveness...
1 John 4: 9-10
This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
11.1.09
1 week ago
2 comments:
Forgiveness is saying that I will pay for your mistake. I don't want to pay for it, I don't have to pay for it, I don't feel like paying for it. But i will pay for it because He asks me to. And He paid for my mistakes. All of them.
Yes, it's harder to forgive if I warned you that you were about to make this mistake. Yes, it's harder because you didn't listen to my warning. Yes, it's harder when you didn't understand how you were hurting me. Yes, it's harder when you rejected me.
"Forgive them, for they know not what they do." means that if you had listened, if you had understood, if you had loved.... you would not have chosen to make the mistake. And you would not have chosen to reject.
It's not an attitude or an emotion. It's a decision. And it's required if I want to bear His name and do His work. Anything less is lip service.
Christ's example of forgiving, is exactly that an example. With my human heart, my human mind, will I ever really get there??? I can try and follow His example, sometimes I fall short. Okay honestly I fall short a lot. I don't think we can "fix" everything and I co-dependent and it's in my nature to want to "fix". What I want to do is be able to follow the example of my Savior, again I don't always make.
Also I just need to be reminded at times of the loving sacrifice, He made for me. I also think, I as everyone else we get stuck in the muck and mire of life and we should let Christ pull us out and clean us up. It's too big of a job for me and sometimes I like to stay there.
So Christ is my Savior, because He forgave me not just of my past sins, but even the sins I will commit...we all fall short of the glory of God! My human nature cannot fathom the depths of forgiveness...All sins, for all times for everyone, it's astounding God's love for us to send Jesus to take on all sin. It literally blows my mind! So much forgiveness encompassed in one God-Human, Jesus!
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