Forgiving the Undeserving
Forgiveness is one of those tricky things that until you get it; it makes no sense. When it comes to forgiving others when they don’t deserve it; that can make it all the more tricky. It’s hard when someone hurts you and you have to be the one to forgive. Sometimes it’s not fair; but let it be known that it wasn’t fair when Jesus carried that cross for you and for me either. And so when it comes to forgiveness forgiving others when they don’t deserve it is just part of life.
So how do you do? Why should you do it? Well; I can give you the obvious. It’s a command. But that doesn’t typically justify it for most people; especially in our self gaining society. It’s not fair that we have to forgive when others did us wrong but here is the thing that must be stressed that I want you to get today.
Your level of forgiveness isn’t about what others have done to you. Period. I want to say get over it but that probably wouldn’t help much so let me share it another way. Your level of forgiveness is between you and God. Period. When you get that your life will change. And I wish someone told me that decades ago. You see; when you forgive you are focusing more on Christ and how He can redeem you than focusing on what others did to you that you can’t change.
When we look outward instead of upward we miss the point. We miss the point of Christ on the cross. We miss the point of His obedience and in laying down the foundation of it along with the message of forgiveness. There is nothing that can’t be done on your behalf but you have to choose. You have to choose to let go what others have done to you. You can harbor it but for what point? What will it get you? Let me tell you what it got me: bitterness, anger, broken relationships, separation from Jesus and a whole lot more. I didn’t feel justified in forgiving others because I was the victim; seriously. I was the victim. But is there the thing. The longer you choose to stay the victim you are just more disobedient and rebellious to God’s Word. And that isn’t a place that I wish for you to stay-trust me!
And so when we examine this further your level of forgiveness is about you making the choice to go to God and lay down you ego. You cannot ‘Edge God Out’ while ‘Edifying God Only’ as you cannot serve two masters. When you go to Him and relinquish the pain of what happened, the emotional attachment to how it made you feel; and what you have harbored you will be restored. You will be restored one step closer to the real you that God intended from the beginning. And all of this has nothing to do with other people or whether or not they deserve to be forgiven. Why? Because the very same thing could be asked of you. Do you deserve to be forgiven for the pain you have caused? What makes you any different? And case in point Jeffrey Dahmer got it- he gave his life to Christ before He was murdered in prison. In other words- none of us are deserving and when we remove our own idea of judgment of right and wrong and understand grace and mercy- we are changed.
If you look at those who have harmed you ask yourself if they truly knew what they were doing. Jesus said it clear: Forgive them Father for they know not what they do. And if we follow that how much do any of us really know what we are doing? So then how possibly are we to the ones to play God and choose whether or not to forgive when the Word tells us to forgive. It’s for our protection, healing, peace of mind and obedience that we must remove everyone and everything else from being a distraction so we can place our focus where it should be: our relationship with Christ and obedience for obedience is worth more than sacrifice.
The best news of it all is that when you release the pain of the hurt you are free. The more free you are the more able you are to love and see people as Jesus. The more love you have within you the more you are then able to follow the greatest commands which are to love the Lord your God and love your neighbor as yourself. Whether or not someone else is deserving of your forgiveness then isn’t even the focus because you seek the best things; the things above. And that is where the true freedom is. Recognize that regardless of where you are or they are; you and we are all the same. So forgive. Be the example of freedom that frees others. Jesus did it for you. So be like Him and do it too.
How does your future look? It is like a breath of fresh air or more like the stock market; not so good? Your future will have a different look to it simply based upon forgiveness. Your future delivered through forgiveness will tell the world where you are and where you are going. Easy as that. So the question is what do you want your future to look like? You can get the better future and through forgiveness what your future will never be the same.
What does this mean? It means that you may be at a fork in the road; and you may or may not know it. If you are like me; I had no idea! I had no clue 1) that I had unforgiveness, 2) how to deal with it, 3) the impact it would have, 4) that it would be the deliverance that I needed, 5) that a forgiveness and deliverance ministry would have been born out of it. This is what you don’t know when you live in unforgiveness. You can’t know. You can’t know what you need to know because what you need to know is blocked because you haven’t yet removed it and been healed and delivered. And that is what is keeping you from your real future. Of course it is inclusive of the entire future that God created you for in the first place.
Bottom line is this: if you are sick and tired of being sick and tired it’s time to get real. It’s time to stop playing church. It’s time to stop pretending everything is fine. It’s time to stop placating the message of forgiveness. It’s time to get the fact that unless you deal with it; your future will look like your past. It cannot look like anything else. I am not saying this because it’s funny; but because it’s what I lived. And for far too long!
What it is time for is to be honest, to look in the mirror, to humble thyself and to go before God and ask of Him: “What unforgiveness and it’s symptoms do I have? What in its entirety must I repent of? To whom do I need to forgive?” It is time to get the revelation that unless you understand it in full that there are almost ’40’ symptoms you may have one or two; or if you are like me I had them all and didn’t know it! It’s time to get that your future is waiting for you and it’s up to you to do something about it.
When and only when you grasp that your future is based upon the level of forgiveness you choose will your life change. It is only when you grasp that reality that you were created for more than what you are probably living right now and that on the other side of unforgiveness is where it is then you can be moving toward the life and its abundance. It’s only when you recognize that Christ died so that you don’t have to live in the wreckage and bondage of life that you can be healed and delivered. It’s when you step up and take the reigns of obedience to Christ will your future come forth and in big ways.
It is when you are on your knees before the Most Holy One being real that you are in fact a sinner and that you are ready for healing, deliverance and forgiveness to reign that your life will change. For me it was two full days of it. I cried the entire time because the pain of my past was so wretched. The horrific things that happened to me I couldn’t bear- and I didn’t have to! You see He died for me. And He died for you too. I was healed and my soul was restored. I was reunited with the Father in the ways unimaginable. My eye color and my voice changed! And this ministry came forth so that you too can be free, delivered and healed through the message of forgiveness. Think about the lives of those whom you will change once you too are on the other side. It will blow your mind. It did mind. And that’s the God we serve!
That wonderful future is there for you. You simply just have to make a choice- life or death. Freedom or bondage. Sure you may try to tell yourself you are fine- and how’s that working out for you? I did it so I know; I get it. I now see through. You may think you are so smart to fool others but fooling yourself is more dangerous and know you can’t fool God. But what you can do is go to Him. You can do that. I know you can. I know too that you can get to the full life that He already has planned for you. And I can tell you too that it’s far better than living in the high rise, sitting in owners boxes of NHL teams, flying in private jets and driving sports cars. It’s better than going to private Bare Naked Ladies concerts and having dinner with the Red Wings or Miami Dolphins; or sharing seats with Paul Newman. It’s better than all that. By far. So today get what’s better for you. Get forgiveness. Get free. Get your future.
For more about forgiveness watch ‘Living in Forgiveness’ M-F at 9:30 pm on the UANetwork. Check your local listing.