November 11, 2009
Forgiving
Apparently the teachers of the law were unaware that Jesus could hear the language of their hearts. When they saw Jesus healing a paralytic and telling the man that his sins were forgiven, they questioned in their hearts, “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Mark 2:7 ESV) We know that the Lord has the authority to forgive sin and while we can’t, we still have the obligation to forgive each other…“But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (Matt 6:15 NIV) Most of us work hard on forgiving others…but I dare say we give little thought to those who have forgiven us.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Gail;
-----Interesting insight! Every action produces three effects. Results are the changes they cause in our physical reality. They can not be undone, but often they can be mitigated by restitution. Everyone involved in the action, whether the doing of it or the receiving of it, is psychologically effected by it. The effect may simply be an insignificant memory, or it may produce extensive impact upon philosophies, attitudes, and emotions. Finally, they have a spiritual impact upon the essence of our characters. They both reveal and alter what is at the base of our hearts by the doing of the act and the response to an act done to us. In considering these effects, we can not forget that every action also involves God as either an inspiration to the act, or a recipient of the action.
-----Forgiveness bears no effect upon the physical results of an action beyond enabling more effective mitigation. But it does greatly effect the psychological implications. There are really idiot things I have done in my life for which I no longer have an opportunity to apologize and be forgiven. They haunt me to this day. Occasionally my mind will serve me daydreams in which I have opportunity to apologize for what I did and mitigate the damages. Although I must not detach from the reality of what I did, these are the only way my mind can avoid psychological corruption caused by the haunting. To know that you have been forgiven yields the realization that at least a portion of your trustworthiness can be restored in the mind of your offended party. And our understanding of how others perceive us is important to how we think about ourselves, which is important to the maintenance of our values and further behavior.
-----But most importantly, forgiveness eliminates spiritual damage. Although memories and physical results may always linger, both the forgiving and forgiven parties are spiritually re-established like new by apology and forgiveness. The base of the heart where the essence of one’s character resides is the beginning of personal responsibility for thinking and feeling. Repentance, apology, and forgiveness are the realignment of that base with what should be, whether it has been or not. Thank God the physical aspects of life do not by necessity effect the spiritual aspects, and it is only by repentance, apology, and forgiveness that it does not.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
Post a Comment