"And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. 26 But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses" (Mark 11:2-26).
I have told more than one audience that in thirty four years of public ministry I have never known a single act of Christian forgiveness from someone in the church who has become offended with me. If anyone has experienced an act of Christian forgiveness I would welcome reading your account. I have enjoyed reading the tract by Corrie Ten Boom of how she was able to forgive a death camp guard. If you have not read her story of this event let me encourage you to find it on the web or in one of her books. She is a wonderful role model.
I have studied the doctrine of forgiveness, taught on it, and unilaterally extended forgiveness towards others in my heart according to gospel terms. I hold no ill will towards those who have written public letters against me, threatened me with loss of a reservoir of good feeling, tried to reduce my income to nothing, and who have promised to hurt me in ever way possible with years of relentless pursuit. What is to be expected of sinners but sin? Of course I do wish they would stop. I would rather be the object of love and affection but I know that spiritual economic and emotional terrorism are effective tools in the arsenal of the arch Enemy of the cross and those who will not forgive use these weapons of spiritual warfare. Still, I would cross the country at my expense to meet with any person at any time day or night with a view towards reconciliation provided there could be an honest dialogue. Often times when people actually talk to one another and not at each other they find new perceptions and thus new realities. Suddenly what they thought about a situation is not what happened once all the facts are known.
Why do many Christians not forgive? Why do some feel justified in hunting down and exposing others whom they once called their brother or sister? Several reasons come to mind.
First, some Christians have not developed a biblical philosophy of forgiveness. They have not throughly researched all the verses in the Bible that relate to this topic and so the Word of God is not rooted deeply in their heart.
Second, there is a feeling of self righteousness which proves to be a powerful emotional spiritual aphrodisiac. Everyone loves to be "right".
Third, some do not know the dark side of their own soul. When anger, hatred, rage and unkind words spring from the heart and lips some do not stop to consider how desperate every human heart is. A new temptation comes to suppress the truth of personal acts and emotions of unrighteousness thereby blocking the fruit of the Spirit being made manifest. The apostle Paul writes of this process in Romans 1.
Finally, in some Christians there is a basic will to power. The need to assert one's will over another human and thus reduce them to a state of forced capitulation is older than the events recorded about Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. It reaches into eternity past when Lucifer said he would be like the Most High (Isaiah 14:12-14).
What is the spiritual solution to having an unforgiving spirit? The answer is found in a parable Jesus told in Matthew 18:21-28. I recommend it for consideration, mediation and personal application. It is true we all need.
