Forgiveness: The Unstoppable Force

It doesn’t mean the actual hurt that was caused by others is your responsibility. It means taking responsibility for what inhabits your physical, mental, social, spiritual and financial ‘spaces’ (which make up your life) and what holding onto the hurt or harm has cultured into your life. 

This is a very hard statement to bear, especially if the hurt you’re carrying was caused by abuse or you were the victim. In any area of your life where you’re dealing with hurt, your first responsibility must be to deliberately bring yourself to a place of healing. That starts with what you do with the remembering of what happened. You’re not changing the reality of what happened, but you are deciding what you will do with the remembering.

There is great liberty for you as you take back an area where something else had decided how you feel and think and how you will respond to the event. 

How God FORGIVES.

Consider three things about forgiveness: 

God does remember our wrongdoing. 2nd Corinthians 5:10 “For all of us (redeemed believers) must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil.” All our lives and actions are remembered by God. 

To forgive another means to cancel a debt of what is owed in order to provide a door of opportunity for turnabout and restoration of the broken relationship. We are reluctant to forgive with such abandon because we can be disappointed in a broken world. What if they treat our forgiveness without importance or continue in their abuse? These are the questions we, as marred beings, ask because it’s difficult for us to love without reserve. Read Psalm 86:5. We also don’t understand true Biblical vengeance.

Vengeance is not an evil emotion. God claims vengeance is His, and He is never evil. We are made in His image, so we feel the desire for vengeance, but our concept of vengeance is getting even. God never gets even. Seeking vengeance can hinder the full power of redemption working out in us. 

Getting even moves the offence from the one who’s committed the wrongdoing to the one handling it with greater wrongdoing. We are warned not to be overcome by evil but to overcome evil with good(Romans 12:17-21). This ‘good’ is the mandate found in Isaiah 61 that Jesus declared fulfilled. We operate under this mandate so that we and others can be redeemed from the ugliness of the marred effects of wrongdoing and wrong thinking. 

God does remember our sins, but it is seen through the covenantal blood of Christ, shed as an act of love to create an opportunity for our restoration. So although He remembers, He chooses what He will do with the remembrance. 

How do I Forgive? 

Forgiveness from the heart takes exactly this kind of change in perspective. You take responsibility in the midst of your hurt and offence and cancel the debt at your own cost so that the beauty of God may work in the situation. We choose to take what we experienced and use it to redeem another from that ugliness in order to release their God-given beauty. You regain the power of choice. 

You provide a door of opportunity for turnabout and restoration of the broken relationship.

It’s a commitment to the power of the beauty of God by doing everything possible to birth good and destroy evil. This requires thinking forgiving, not just saying ‘I forgive’, ‘I forgive’ over and over. That won’t bring real forgiveness; it only focuses your attention on your hurt or offence. 

So, we use the power of God’s forgiveness illustrated in Matthew 18:21-35:

Jesus speaks about the king who wants to settle accounts, who finds one among his debtors who owes him an astronomical sum he couldn’t pay and the king’s kindness in forgiving him. Unfortunately, this servant refused to show the same compassion to one who owed him a paltry amount and had the fellow servant thrown into jail until he paid the full amount. The king hears about this and says, “Should you not have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I have had mercy on you?” Forgiving is not a one-time event. Just as the power of forgiveness continues, we choose to continue in forgiveness, allowing it to be an ongoing, deepening and quickening process in us. Matthew 6:14-15 “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”  

Now what?

Forgiving brings you freedom! 

Loving yourself enough to allow yourself to cancel a debt, to allow the power of God to work in the situation, moves you to where you can heal. God made us as relational beings. According to our Isaiah 61 mandate, we are called to restore through tenderness, exercising beauty for ashes. 

“This sacrifice of our right to retribution is not just an attitude of love, it is an act of love. We make the sacrifice because it is the right thing to do for them, not because we want them to do something for us. This clears the space in which others can let down their guard and be emotionally truthful with themselves… we influence others most profoundly when we go about straightforwardly doing the right and loving thing.” 

Love your enemy by feeding them what they need – grace, because it increases the hunger for true love and honour. The key to turning the other cheek: it is an action designed for an enemy, not a friend. The tactics used to gain power over you are lost by your response. It exposes their core and invites them to wrestle with their emotional toxicity.

All people in our lives need this act of love, too: 

Loving another believer, Galatians 6:1 “…restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness.” 

Loving an evil person because all of us behave in evil at times. Matthew 7:11.

Liberating your life by unleashing the power of forgiveness in your life. That takes courage - courage to fully live in the light of God. I've written a book that will aid you in fully living in the light of God, entitled 'Growing in God's Light'. It's a practical guide to let the light of God into every area of your life and grow in God’s light. It’s easy to read and filled with real-life stories, which will open up to you the amazing potential of living in God’s light. God is light, and in Him is no darkness. When you embraced the light of God and entered the kingdom as a believer, you received an infusion of heavenly light. God lives in you, and you live and have your being in Him, so your default setting is light. You are filled with God’s light – a light being. ‘Growing in God’s Light’ will give you ways to embrace all that God’s light gives you to let go and prosper in life, light the dark places in the world, and be a force for good. To read more, click the button below and use my free inspiring resources by subscribing.

Do you know someone who can benefit from this post? Send them this link...

https://rennieduplessis.com/forgiveness-the-unstoppable-force