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Dear Weekly Readers!John 13:35 says: By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.In order to maintain, exhibit, and sustain love to one another, there must be forgiveness. The article today is about forgiveness! Dear Lord, give us a forgiving heart! John R.
FORGIVENESS IS IN THE FOREFRONT of a true believer’s heart. One must first be a partaker of the forgive- ness God offers in the shed blood of Jesus. At times it may seem forgiveness is the farthest and hardest answer that can come from our heart toward one who has offended us. We can never be completely at peace with God and our brother unless we are able to forgive. This is a hard lesson to learn and takes one being a partaker in the forgiveness God has in His Son. So we rest in the fact that we are able to completely forgive the offenses of others because we now walk in the Holy Spirit, who has guided us unto the perfect forgiveness God has for us.
This believer’s heart is what God alone has made complete, pure, holy and has the testimony of the Holy Spirit. A heart that is caring, full of compassion, willing to carry the burdens of others. A heart that will listen and is able to hear the cry of the lost. A heart that is not ashamed of the Spirit’s guidance, not ashamed of the Gospel and not ashamed to be a child of the King.
And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Genesis 6:5) This is the heart of man, not the heart that has been washed in the blood of the Lamb. The heart of man is not walking daily by the guidance of the Holy Spirit and in the forgiveness God has given. The heart of man is exceedingly wicked and has one thing in mind—to serve itself. If man trusts his own heart, he will find that his heart will fail him.
Where can man trust if not his heart? We are asked to walk by faith and not look within ourselves for anything that will be pleasing to God. Man’s heart must first be right with God and then he can be at peace with others. Man cannot forgive unless he is at peace with God and has tasted the forgiveness God offers in His Son Jesus.
The heart of man will become hardened if it has not come under the teaching of the Word of God and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. And the LORD said unto Moses, Pharaoh's heart is hardened, he refuseth to let the people go. (Exodus 7:14) Pharaoh's heart continued to be hardened and he would not submit to the will of God and let the people of God go. All of Egypt had to suffer because of Pharaoh's hardened heart. If you look at the believer’s heart you can see a heart full of compassion, a heart that is ready to forgive, a heart that never—not ever—holds judgment upon the evil work of man's evil heart. The heart of man has one thing in mind: to win or have advantage over others. With this heart, man will never admit that he has a hardened heart, and with this heart he can never forgive.
A believer’s heart has only one choice: to forgive. A believer’s heart is willing to accept the heart of others; and he knows that man’s heart is unable to forgive until man’s heart experiences the complete transformation work God has to do in softening hearts in the true contri- tion. Man finds this forgiveness when his robe has been washed white in the blood of the Lamb, cleansed pure and found acceptable in the sight of God. This work of trans- forming the heart of man is done through the speaking and through the hearing of the Word of God.
We as God's children never hold judgment against man’s heart but always carry a forgiving heart, because this is the will of our Father in heaven. The heart of a believer should never seek his own will, but submit to the will of the Triune God, Father, Son and Spirit, should seek the truth, should stand and be known as one of grace, goodness and one after the heart of God. This heart should never rush to judgment but should search for all truth, should never stand with the will and ways of man even if he stands alone, should always carry a heart of forgive- ness. This heart should make full restitution for spreading or speaking falsely of others even when they may be right, and should never be one to divide the flock of God. This is very hard for our flesh to do. When we find our hearts drawn to the will of God in Christ Jesus by the Holy Spirit, we see and pray for a heart that is ready to forgive.
I pray that God would reveal to us that our fight is over and we have the victory in Jesus. He has already won the fight for us. We can walk humbled and contrite in forgiving others. This is not a sign of weakness but a sign of strength in the work of God in our hearts. This is because our strength does not come from within us, but comes from the work of God reconciling us to Him-
self. Thus we are able to forgive and because of this we can have the peace that passes all understanding.
We should be willing and ready to make all things right as the Spirit leads us unto full restitution in the body of believers, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We are called to not judge; the Word of God is the judge of man and will not return void to God but will perform that which it is sent to perform. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confes- sion is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:10)
Father, cleanse my heart that I may walk with a forgiving heart toward others, praying Thy will would be made known in my heart and in the hearts of all others. Keep my heart humble before Thee and before Thy Word. Please do not take Thy Holy Spirit from me. I offer this prayer in the name of Thy Son Jesus. Amen!
Mark Sunnarborg
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