11.06.07
“FORGIVE–NOW!”
James 4:13-17
“But if anyone has caused grief, he has not grieved me, but all of you to some extent–not to be too severe. This punishment which was inflicted by the majority is sufficient for such a man, so that, on the contrary, you ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow. Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love to him.”
I once heard a sad story of failure to forgive, and the horrible results. A husband had been involved with an affair with another woman. After a time, his infidelity was discovered. He returned to his wife and begged for her forgiveness for his stupidity and sinful action.
His wife said he could return, but that she would not forgive him until he paid the price for the pain and suffering he had caused her. In the weeks, months and years that followed, he was a paragon of virtue. He did every conceivable thing he could to gain his wife’s forgiveness, but his wife refused to forgive him for the pain and humiliation he had caused.
After a number of years the wife became very ill. The husband waited on her hand and foot. Her every need was met without murmur or complaint. Slowly she began to recover her health once again–due in no small part to the tender care he gave her.
When her health had fully returned, she called her husband to her side and thanked him for the wonderful way he had cared for her while she was so ill. She reached out her hand to him and said: “I am now ready to forgive you for being untrue to me—you are forgiven!”
The husband did not take her hand. He stood and uttered words of bitterness. “It is too late for you to forgive me. I have earned it! You could only truly forgive me when I did not deserve to be forgiven! Now I do not need it nor do I want it!” He turned and walked away from her.
Every time I think about that incident I am torn up inside. I hear from many individuals who are agonizing because they have not been forgiven for something they have done. Others call or write that they simply are not able to forgive someone for their misdeeds.
In addition to today’s passage, there are many Scriptures that tell us in no uncertain terms that we are to freely forgive those who have hurt us. In Matthew 18:21-22, the Apostle Peter asked Jesus how often he was to forgive his brother who sinned against him. “Then Peter came to Him and said, ‘Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.’ “
Here is a quick question for each of us: Are there any people in our life that we have not forgiven? Perhaps we try to justify our refusal to forgive for many different reasons. None of them will be acceptable to the Lord. When He tells us to forgive—”up to seventy times seven,”—it essentially means we always are to forgive! Let’s do it!
Blessings dear hearts. Walk with God today and be a blessing.
- - - Pastor Cecil