The Capacity to Forgive

In Mark chapter 11, Jesus discussed the importance of praying with faith and also highlighted a deterrent to faith and answered prayer:
24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
25 "And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.
26 But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses."

This just shows to each of us how important that the act of forgiveness is to God.  First of all, He forgave us, and continues to forgive us when we sin against Him.  Because of His great love, He does not count those sins against us.   But, He also expects us to forgive others and grants us the capacity to do so.  If we hold on to unforgiveness in our hearts, it has a profound negative effect on our relationship with God.

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In Matthew chapter 18, Jesus told a parable about the importance of forgiveness:
23 Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.
24 And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.
25 But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made.
26 The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, 'Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.'
27 Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.
28 But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, 'Pay me what you owe!'
29 So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.'
30 And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt.

Jesus illustrated the high value of forgiveness and drove the point home in verses 34 and 35:
34 And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.
35 So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses."

What was described as a worldwide prayer effort spread recently for a North Carolina worship pastor and his wife who lost both of their children in a car accident.

ChristianHeadlines.com quoted Christian News Network, which reported that Pastor Gentry Eddings and his wife Hadley of Forest Hill Church in Ballantyne were following one another in separate cars when a box truck rear-ended Gentry Eddings’ vehicle, which was pushed into Hadley’s.

She was eight months pregnant at the time, and was rushed to the hospital where doctors performed an emergency C-section. The baby, who the couple named Reed, died two days later. The Eddings’ two-year-old son, Dobbs, died en route to the hospital.  Gentry and Hadley sustained minor injuries. The driver of the box truck was charged with misdemeanor death by a vehicle, and said his brakes were not working.

At the children's funeral, Gentry expressed forgiveness to the truck driver. ChristianHeadlines.com published this quote from The Christian Post: "We have, in our hearts, forgiven the man who did this. It was not the easiest thing to do, but in some ways it was because we know — Hadley and I — that Jesus Christ has forgiven us our debt... So in some ways, it was very easy to forgive a man who made an accident."

The Post article also noted that in order to show the Eddings how much they are loved and supported by their local community, the church's senior pastor David Chadwick, who presided over the funeral, asked the Eddings to come to the altar and face the crowd to see just how many people showed up to support them, which reportedly sparked a huge crowd ovation.

The Bible speaks about the topic of forgiveness and relates it to our relationship with God.  If we truly appreciate the forgiveness that has been granted to us by Christ, we can have the capacity to forgive those who have wronged us.  

There are 4 words that can be associated with this story:

"We will stand with you," Chadwick told the Eddings. "We will lift you up in our prayers. We will hug you when we see you. We will walk with you through the grief."

Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/pastor-who-lost-both-his-baby-sons-in-car-accident-forgives-driver-who-caused-fatal-wreck-139906/#8C4JGytCSA4z8V4M.99

We have been commanded to forgive.  God is very serious about the act of forgiveness.  Out of a compassionate and forgiving heart, Jesus gave His very life.  Because He has extended that forgiveness to us and placed His Spirit in our hearts, He expects us to walk with a forgiving spirit.

We can be compelled to forgive.  Recognizing that forgiveness is serious business with God, that can motivate us to not fight back, but to extend forgiveness, not harboring bitterness in our hearts that can ensnare us and render us unproductive in the Christian life, producing oppression.  He desires for us to experience freedom that we gain from releasing ill feelings toward another person.

We can choose to forgive.  There is great power in our choices.  And, God is calling us to make that choice - to appropriate His love and His resources in order to walk in His freedom and perhaps to enable others to be set free by our own act of forgiveness.  The act of forgiveness is a matter of choice.

We have the capacity to forgive.  The good news is that we have the nature of Christ dwelling within us.  Because we have taken God's commandment seriously and responded to His compelling us to forgive and making the choice, we can experience the wonderful capacity to forgive someone, not counting what they have done to us against them, but regarding them in love and seeing them through the eyes of Jesus, who died so that all might be forgiven.