Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

• Matthew 6:15

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

• Matthew 18:21-22

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

• 1 John 1:9

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

• Romans 5:8

“We must forgive all our enemies or be damned.”

• C. S. Lewis, God in the Docks, “Dangers of National Repentance”

“The demand that God should forgive such a man [one bent on evil] while he remains what he is, is based on a confusion between condoning and forgiving. To condone an evil is simply to ignore it, to treat it as if it were good. But forgiveness needs to be accepted as well as offered if it is to be complete: and a man who admits no guilt can accept no forgiveness.”

• C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

In the second C. S. Lewis quote, when we forgive, we are acknowledging the pain that was caused.  We are not condoning the sin.  We are not ignoring the sin nor the pain left behind, but we hold no ill will, just as while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

I am continuing with the theme of forgiving others, even enemies.  The Corrie ten Boom story on Sunday is when a guard from the concentration camp asked her to forgive him.  She did not want to do so, but God commands that we do.  She prayed that she would extend her hand to shake the man’s hand, but Jesus had to provide the feeling.  Jesus did so with abundance.

It is hard to forgive our enemies.  Peter asked about how many times he should forgive his brother.  That sounds like a repeat offense and Peter’s brother might never repent.  Hopefully, Peter was talking about a third brother and not Andrew, but even so, the eleven who became apostles were human.

But what if the enemy is guiding people that you love away from Jesus?  We must still forgive.  We might encourage the loved ones to run away, but in the end, God will have to deal with that situation.  We should pray for their salvation.

But C. S. Lewis turns the tables in speaking of a completeness in forgiving.  We must forgive the one who has hurt us before God will forgive us.  But for the forgiveness to be complete, the one doing the harm must confess and repent of that sin.  That is out of our control.  We must focus on our willingness to forgive.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.