God is merciful! Are we?

Pastor Arnie Wyllie

This year at Christmas, how would you like to give a gift that is more valuable, once it is given to you, than it is to the person you bestow it upon? Christmas is the celebration of the beginning of Jesus Christ’s life. Jesus made a priceless gift available to us near the end of His life. He talked to His friend, Peter, on the subject of forgiveness. Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?” Jesus replied, “No, not seven times, but 70 times seven!” (Matthew 18:21-22) When you give a gift at any time of the year, are there ‘strings attached’? When you give a gift, do you have an ‘agenda’ for giving? If so, it is not really a gift. It is not from your heart. The same can be said about forgiveness. Superficial forgiveness does no one any good. Wholehearted forgiveness is a gift that gives back to you. Genuine forgiveness not only sets the forgiven person free, but also the forgiver. It is better to forgive the injustices of the past than to allow them to remain. If you let bitterness take root, you poison the rest of your life. You are chained to the memory of the incident you choose not to forgive. While you may feel that the person you have not forgiven is suffering, you are suffering from a lifestyle of misery and resentment. Jesus speaks to Peter about forgiveness after Peter asks Him a question. Peter did not understand Jesus’ answer. He did not grasp the spiritual implications. Jesus said, “Not seven times, but 70 times seven.” Jesus was not using this as an actual number; this was a number to represent an infinite number. Our sin debt to God is a debt that we could never pay. We will never have the resources to balance the account. God forgave us this terrible debt. Christ would pay this tremendous debt for us. But, after being forgiven; do we go out and refuse to forgive our brothers and sisters who sin against us? We have been forgiven a greater debt than we could ever hope to repay and yet we refuse to forgive a petty offense by someone. If we cannot forgive those who sin against us, we are living our lives in a prison of bitterness that ultimately poisons our souls. We become slaves to this hatred, this bitterness. We are imprisoned by that bitterness and it is a petty debt compared to the debt we owe God. God is merciful. Why cannot we be merciful? We pray in the Lord’s Prayer: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us ...” When we forgive, we set someone free! The only way we are ever going to be free from the imprisonment of bitterness is to set free those who have wronged us. Each of us today can think back upon some incident, some wrong that has hurt us. Are you still bitter, still hurting? If you have not forgiven that person, then you are in a prison of your own making. You might say, “I cannot forget what happened to me. How can I forgive?” Jesus said forgiveness is the first step. Check your attitude. There is a difference between ‘I cannot’ and ‘I will not’. On Sunday mornings, you can hear the bell ringing from St. Mark’s Anglican Church. It is simply rung by pulling on a rope. But you know what? After you let go of the rope the bell keeps on swinging for a while. Slower and slower it rings until there is a final ring and it stops. The same thing is true of forgiveness. When we forgive, we take our hand off the rope of unforgiveness. Forgiving is not easy. God forgave us all our many sins. By the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ, our account as been marked ‘Paid in Full’! But, that is just the beginning. Jesus wanted his disciples to understand something. How could they live with Him if they could not live with their brother? Peter asked, “How often should I forgive, Lord?” Jesus said, “As often as necessary, Peter.” How can we live with the Father if we cannot live with each other? In our Bible, Psalm 32:1 says, “Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight!” We are blessed when our sins are forgiven. How much greater is the blessing when we can forgive those who sin against us. This Christmas, let go of the rope of unforgiveness.