Tag: Book of Colossians

The topic of our study is Forgiveness. One might think it a simple study, but I believe it is complex. First I wonder if we really understand what forgiveness is, biblically. I wonder if we meet the biblical thresh-hold of forgiveness. I wonder if we spend more time meeting the worldly definition of forgiveness. I don’t know, but I think a serious study of it is going to let us see for ourselves.

First let’s talk about some things that Forgiveness is not. It is NOT forgive and forget. I once heard a sermon by Dr. Voddie Baucham. He is one of my all-time favorite pastors to listen to. I never met him, but he has said in a number of his sermons that this idea of forgive and forget is a lie. He explained that the human brain is not designed to forget. So if the brain is forgetting it is malfunctioning. It has experienced some form of trauma, like Blunt force trauma or concussion, or disease like Alzheimer’s or dementia. It is unreasonable to expect the brain to forget a traumatic event when traumatic events are what burns a memory into the brain in the first place. Forgiveness is NOT an eraser. Forgiving does not erase the action. It does not say, “Okay, I forgive you so go ahead and go to sleep and when you wake up in the morning we will continue on like nothing happened.” NO!!! In most cases an action that has created some form of trauma has occurred. It happened!! There is no ignoring that. Because this is true, forgiveness is NOT absolution of accountability and immunity from consequence. I can forgive you, but there is still a consequence because the act really did happen. Biblically speaking, and we are going to look at some verses here soon, God is huge on accountability. If we are to be Christ like, how then can we say that there is no accountability? We cannot. There are consequences for our actions. Finally, forgiveness does not mean a relationship of any kind needs to continue. Now let’s be careful here. If you were violated, and you learned a lesson, and that lesson was that this is a dangerous person and for safety or health reasons and you are completely free of hate and animosity, it is appropriate to go our separate ways, no problem. But if you are violated, and you say you forgive and then not communicating with that person is out of anger or some form of punishment, then you have not truly forgiven. We will talk more about this, but for now let’s just say that you have to release your grip on the whip and hand that over to God as well if you are to truly forgive.

Now that we looked at some of the things forgiveness is not, let’s look at what it is. I really want to look at the biblical definition and compare it to what you think. In the bible forgiveness refers more to the act. When you forgive biblically, you are saying that you are overlooking an act. You are sending it away. The word forgive means we are overlooking the wrong, we are going to send the wrong away. But the other half of this is, “where are we sending it to?” To God!  There are many, and I mean many, verses that address forgiving others that you may be forgiven. But I love these verses in Colossians chapter 3 because it starts off by telling us a key point of forgiveness, and that is God’s wrath.

Colossians 3

⁶ For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:

⁷ In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.

⁸ But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.

⁹ Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;

¹⁰ And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

¹¹ Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.

¹² Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;

¹³ Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.

When we forgive we are recognizing that we are not in control, and God is. So we are going to send this away and put the act and the offender into the hands of God. We are taking everything out of our hands, and putting into the hands of God. Why would we want to do that? We want this for a couple reasons.

First, we want this because, as these verses indicate, we are to put off our wrath. Put it off to where, God’s hands. Our wrath is not perfect and not righteous. When someone hurts us, our wrath is more about the fact that we hurt than the actual act. This is why we can be okay with our response but someone else is like, ‘gee wiz, being a little harsh aren’t we?’ God’s wrath is perfectly just. We need to trust that, and defer to it. After all, His instruction to us is to be peaceful and leave the wrath up to Him.

Romans 12:

17 Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.

18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.

19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.

21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

Secondly, we want this to happen because that’s what we want others to do to us. I don’t know about you, but I make mistakes. I am human and I admit that I have hurt people before, and as uncomfortable as this may sound, it is highly likely that I will hurt people again. I pray that they forgive me and send me and my offense to God for HIS deliberation. I pray for that because I know God is just. I know that God can see into my mind (most people use the word ‘heart’ a lot but I don’t. I think it confuses people. The heart is just a muscle that pumps blood to all parts of the body. Big job, important organ. But the truth is the BRAIN is the biblical heart. It is where thoughts, all the worldly wicked thoughts of man come from. It is the hub of emotions. It is also where the transformation takes place because repentance is to have a change of MIND on sin. Another deep lesson for another day.). He knows that while I did offend, I did not do it in malice and that I do genuinely seek forgiveness, and He knows that I am a forgiving person. So I want to be judged by the judge of all judges. If I want to be forgiven, then I must forgive. People don’t know the mind of man, but God does.  There are many verses about forgiving others if you want to be forgiven. I will provide just a few.

Ephesians 4:32

32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

Matthew 6:15

¹⁵ But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Matthew 18:33-35

³³ Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?

³⁴ And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.

³⁵ So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not everyone his brother their trespasses.

Now, I am going to step on some toes. How much more has been done to us than what this world did to Christ? I have thought that I was so violated that I was not only justified to not forgive, but to hate the offender. I was wrong. I hope that when you think of all that Jesus went through, not only in his final hours but during his years as a minister as well, you will see that your violation is small in comparison. Jesus was continuously mocked and spit on, and challenged. The man had no home; he was homeless. The savior slept on the ground and the rock was his pillow. And then yes, in the final hours he was so badly beaten and scourged that he was hardly recognizable. While on the cross, a torturous death by the way, he had a spear thrusted into his side just to see if he was still alive. And as if that was not enough, God placed the weight of all the sin in the world, all the sin that has been-is-and was yet to come, onto the body of Christ that we shall receive forgiveness. And in the course of all of this, Jesus’ prayer was that God the father forgive us because we have no clue what we were doing. This is the picture of perfect forgiveness. How much more can be done to a human being? And Christ took all the violations and put them into the hands of the father. Jesus said here, “I forgive them; I give up my right to have earthly and personal vengeance on these people. I turn them over to you. And if they can believe in you, I advocate on their behalf that you forgive them their violations against you and that you let them come home a redeemed child.”

1 Peter 2:19-21

¹⁹ For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.

²⁰ For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.

²¹ For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:

Now this is important, when we are violated and we say out loud that we just cannot forgive, what we are really saying is, “I am going through more than what Christ went through, and that because this wrong is at a magnitude never seen before, God’s wrath will not be good enough. This offender must feel my wrath. This person must not have a path to redemption; there is no forgiveness for this person. I want you to forgive me, but this person, NO FORGIVENESS! I am sorry God, but I don’t trust you to handle this to my satisfaction. I want to make sure there are no mistakes here, and that this person suffers as I have suffered and then some more. I want them to feel my pain because the pain of hell is insufficient. It’s not enough.” Now you may think that I am going a little too far with this, but I challenge you to think about it. Have you ever made a mistake, handled it maturely and begged for forgiveness and while forgiven still had to suffer consequences and maybe even long term where you wondered when will I ever be done paying for this mistake? I have and because I have I can believe very easily that God’s wrath is wholly sufficient.

In closing, forgiveness is NOT a free pass. Even the saints will meet with the LORD to discuss obedience. Remember, “EVERY KNEE WILL BOW” It only seems like bad people get away with everything. Imagine Hell, filled with those ‘bad people’. Do you still think they got away with something? This earth is not our home. It is evil and wicked. This world is not fair, and welcoming. It is not our job to give up when we get knocked down. It is our job to continue to spread the gospel, to continue to let the light of Christ shine in spite of being violated. When you don’t do that, you are suffering from idolatry. Your woes are too great to put God first, which means you must come first, right? RIGHT! Think of it this way, while you are going on about the violation, the violator is enjoying life. Sometimes forgiveness frees you from the prisons of emotions. Let’s take full advantage of God. Cast upon Him your violators and their behaviors. Forgive so you can receive forgiveness. Forgive so you can be free from the bondage of bad memories and painful emotions.

If you stand in the mirror what will the reflection tell you about yourself, and what are you going to do about it? May the peace of God be abundantly heaped upon you and your house, straight from the cross to the Christian!