Posted on 09/16/2020 7:58:30 PM PDT by metmom
“Love your enemies … hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great … He is kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful … Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you … For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you” (Luke 6:35-38).
According to Jesus, an enemy is someone who has cursed you, hated you, or persecuted you (see Matthew 5:44). By his definition, we have enemies not only in the world, but at times in the church. Paul said, “Put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another” (Colossians 3:12-13).
Bearing with (forbearing) and forgiving are two different issues. Forbearing means ceasing from all acts and thoughts of revenge. It says, “Don’t take matters into your own hands. Instead, endure the hurt. Lay the matter down and leave it alone.”
In addition to forbearing, we must forgive from the heart. This encompasses two other commands: loving your enemies and praying for them. Jesus never said the work of forgiving would be easy. When he commanded, “Love your enemies,” the Greek word for “love” doesn’t mean affection but “moral understanding.” Simply put, forgiving someone isn’t a matter of stirring up human affection; rather, it means making a moral decision to remove hatred from our hearts.
When Saul was pursuing David with intent to kill him, David had an opportunity for easy revenge when he found his pursuer asleep in a cave in which David himself was hiding. David’s men urged him, “This is God’s doing! He has delivered Saul into your hand so kill him now and avenge yourself.” But David would not; instead, he cut off a piece of Saul’s garment so he could later prove he could have killed him.
Such wise actions are God’s way of putting our enemies to shame. This was the case when David showed Saul the piece of his garment. “Then Saul said to David, ‘You are more righteous than I; for you have rewarded me with good, whereas I have rewarded you with evil’” (1 Samuel 24:17). Because of David’s actions, Saul’s bitter heart toward him melted.
That is the power of forgiveness — it puts hateful enemies to shame, because the human heart can’t understand such a purely loving response.
Soooooooo easy!
Yeah
No
Thank you for this.
It is hard to reconcile even self defense with these references. Overturning the money changers’ tables seems strange without putting it into the realm of being fed up with the abuse of a building used for worship as offending God, but then there seems no end to what offends God and requires repentance, so should we disturb all such godly offending matters?
This leaves me pondering some things I haven’t thought about for a while, so again, thank you.
It is expected that forgiveness first requires repentance. In fact, we are required to forgive our brothers and sisters in Christ if they first repent.
I have interpreted forbearance as a “letting go,” but it’s not forgiveness.
For people who have not wronged you, I do not understand how we can forgive them, even if we hold angst against them. For instance, I have angst against Hitler for what he did to this world. How can forgiveness of any sort be remotely relevant?
Yes, this starts the mind juices back up. Thanks!
I understand where you’re coming from.
More later.
Busy night tonight and I’d appreciate your prayers.
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