" 3 Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. 4 And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him." Luke 17:3-4
While some do not forgive others because they have not yet received Christ as their Savior and they have yet to be forgiven themselves, many do not forgive because they simply haven’t been taught how to handle the issue of an unwilling or unrepentant offender.
First of all, if a person is constantly sinning against you (hurting or bad mouthing you), Jesus advises us to continue to forgive them. (Luke 17:3-4) That does not mean you can’t try to help your friend to overcome repetitious sin or that you will always place yourself in the same position where you always get hurt; but it does mean that you restore the relationship. How many times has Christ forgiven you for the same sins against Him? Out of all the times you have asked to be forgiven from Christ, did He ever disown you?
Secondly, what happens if you extend the hand of forgiveness, but the other person does not care, does not want to apologize, or can’t seem to understand the hurt they did to you? Realize, you did what God expects of you and there is nothing more for you to do except pray. From a reading of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:21-26), God expects both the offended and the offender to quickly reconcile. You have done your part; know that Christ did His part, and not everyone accepts His forgiveness.
Finally, what if someone asks forgiveness of you – yet you refuse to forgive them? Jesus talked about this situation as well. Do you know what He said? To find out, subscribe to our blog and look for our next posting in two days. Or, go ahead … listen to this scripture filled sermon below and receive the information ahead of time. Either way, remember: Forgiven people forgive.
Secondly, what happens if you extend the hand of forgiveness, but the other person does not care, does not want to apologize, or can’t seem to understand the hurt they did to you? Realize, you did what God expects of you and there is nothing more for you to do except pray. From a reading of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:21-26), God expects both the offended and the offender to quickly reconcile. You have done your part; know that Christ did His part, and not everyone accepts His forgiveness.
Finally, what if someone asks forgiveness of you – yet you refuse to forgive them? Jesus talked about this situation as well. Do you know what He said? To find out, subscribe to our blog and look for our next posting in two days. Or, go ahead … listen to this scripture filled sermon below and receive the information ahead of time. Either way, remember: Forgiven people forgive.
RSS Feed
