Forgiveness Restores

For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions. - Matthew 6:14 - 15

We sin against one another on a horizontal plane. We lie, cheat, steal and commit all manner of abominations against each other that wound and damage and destroy. These violations of God’s moral standard are debts accumulated, outstanding obligations that cost everyone involved.

But sin is more than horizontal. It is vertical.

God is holy, that is, set apart from sin and completely upright and true. (Isaiah 6:2 – 5 LSB)

Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is Yahweh of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.” And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called out, while the house of God was filling with smoke. Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh of hosts.”

When we sin then, we violate God’s perfect, eternal, righteous standard. Therefore, a sin of lust or murder or harm directed against an image-bearer of God (Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness – Genesis 1:26) is a greater act of wickedness against God Himself. It is His just and moral law that we have broken.

In fact, because God is THE standard of righteousness, the debt we owe to Him far, far outweighs the debt we owe or is owed to or by any one person, no matter the grievous nature of the atrocity involved. We each bear God’s image. But, God is the Image of all that is good and right and just!

In light of these truths, we need to see the hopefulness of God’s command then to forgive. Sin is not a burden I was made to bear, either my own or that of another’s sin against me.

When someone has sinned against me and I forgive them of that debt, I am not saying that the sin is of no consequence. Far from it! Rather, in the act of obedience, forgiving a person of their sin which was committed against me, I am saying three things:

First, I am acknowledging that I am a sinner who has been forgiven by God. I have received His grace and mercy for my violations of His holy and unbreakable standard of righteousness.

Forgiving a person who has sinned against me is a declaration of gratitude that I too am a sinner who has been relieved of a burden I could not bear and absolved of a penalty I could not repay.

Jesus tells a parable in Matthew 18:21 – 35 that illustrates this powerfully! A man who owed an enormous debt to the King was brought before that Sovereign and commanded to immediately pay what he owed. He could not. Throwing himself on the mercy of the King, we see the King’s response: And feeling compassion, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt.

The parable continues, telling us that the man who had just been mercifully released from an overwhelming burden came upon another man who owed him a pittance. Immediately the man who had just been freed from his bondage began to choke the second man, showing no mercy and demanding what was owed. The people who saw this reported it back to the King. Then summoning him, his lord said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’

Second, when I forgive another their sin against me, I am declaring I trust God to make right what is wrong. When I forgive someone their debt, that individual still owes a debt to God that must be repaid. God will, by no means, excuse any sin ever committed against Him.

Scripture teaches that every sin will be paid for, either by the blood of Jesus Christ who on the cross paid the ransom, the debt we owed to God – In Him (Jesus) we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our transgressions, according to the riches of His grace (Ephesians 1:7). Or, that sin will be paid for by the individual eternally. For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23). Sin, as we see, is of great consequence to God and we can trust Him to make right what is wrong!

And finally, if I do not forgive a person for their sin(s) committed against me, the burden of bearing that vile act not only weighs me down, but surely, that sin will poison the vessel that carries it. Bitterness is a destructive root that chokes out hope and peace and joy!

By God’s grace and rich mercy, we have been freed from the bondage of sin. Loved ones, do not let the destruction of another’s sin rob you of that joy. Trust God and entrust yourself to Him by forgiving the one who has sinned against you. Our strength is paltry, but His might is immeasurable!

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. Romans 5:6 – 10 LSB

Written by: Carol A. Jenkins