And be ye
kind one to another,
tender-hearted, forgiving
one another,
even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

Ephesians  4:32,  KJV
And be ye
kind one to another,
tender-hearted, forgiving
one another,
even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

Ephesians  4:32,  KJV
THE PATHWAY OF
FORGIVING
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The Pathway of Forgiving
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Pathway of Perseverance
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The Pathway of Prayer
Forgiving is forgetting -- forgetting all the hurt and anger, the faults and failings, all the things that can create bad feelings between ourselves and another person. The Lord says in Jeremiah 31:34, NIV:  ". . . I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sin no more. . ."

Forgiving is healing, reconciling and letting go of resentment.  It gives us freedom from hate and shows God's mercy and compassion to others.

Forgiving builds courage and commitment. It is not a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength.  By being forgiving of others, we often discover our own need for love and acceptance.  We also become more open to a better understanding of the person who has offended us and can offer him the opportunity to see his need for love and acceptance.  Through forgiving, we come to see our fellow man through God's eyes.  With God's love in our hearts, we begin to see others as they can be when changed by His power and grace. We are all precious in the eyes of God!  There are no exceptions.

Forgiving does not condone or excuse failings or gloss over the wrongs that have been committed.  Nor does it remove the consequences of those wrongs.  But forgiving does provide an example of love and reconciliation that may open the way for the forgiven one to change his course and start down a better path. Most of us know that we should forgive. The problem is finding the love and motivation to do it, expecially if we have been greatly wronged. It is only through God's love and power in our hearts that we can offer genuine forgiveness to others.
To be angry and unforgiving keeps us from having peace in our hearts.  We cannot be rid of our own hard feelings towards others until we are willing to forgive them.  And what better way to lose an enemy than to forgive them and pray for them! 
It is difficult to dislike someone whom we have forgiven and are earnestly praying for.  Romans 12:20, NIV says:  ". . .If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."  In other words, if we show kindness to our enemy, it could soften his heart and he will no longer be our enemy.


In Matthew 18:21-35, Jesus tells the parable about the servant who owed ten thousand talents to the king.  (That would be about four billion dollars today!)  The king demanded that the debt be paid and threatened to sell his servant, the servant's family, and everything he owned.  Obviously, the indebted servant could never repay such a huge amount.  When he pleaded with the king, the king had compassion for him and was quick to forgive him. The entire debt was forgotten!

It was not long before this same servant found one of his fellow servants that owed him a smaller debt of about four thousand dollars. When the fellow servant could not pay his debt, the first servant had him thrown in prison. Then the king heard what he had done and had the unforgiving servant thrown in prison as well.

God wants us to respond to others with the same compassion that He has shown us.  When we receive forgiveness from God we receive the ability to forgive!
A forgiving spirit
often produces another
forgiving spirit.
THE PATHWAY OF
FORGIVING
THE PATHWAY OF
FORGIVING
THE PATHWAY OF
FORGIVING
THE PATHWAY OF
FORGIVING
"Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." Romans 12:20, NIV.
Forgiving is not always just a one-time thing.  Sometimes we may need to forgive someone many times.  Peter thought seven times to forgive someone was pretty generous, but Jesus' reply was seventy times seven -- without limit!  God puts no limit on how many times He forgives us!  When we realize how God puts up with us, with all of our faults and failings -- how He forgives and forgets all the things we have done wrong -- how can we not do the same for those who have hurt us?
"Forgiving is not always just a one-time thing."
No one who has truly received God's forgiveness can refuse to forgive someone else -- the forgiven child of God must forgive. By forgiving others, we are showing them God's forgiveness, as we have known it.  We are showing them the cross of Christ and the infinite sacrifice that He made for us all.


The first followers of Christ learned from His example of forgiving.  As the church grew, hatred and persecution followed them.  Stephen was one of the followers of Christ that was persecuted.  The mob dragged him out of the city and began to stone him.  While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed out loud, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them".  Matthew 7:60, NIV.  Then he died.  Like Christ, Stephen forgave his tormentors.

Saul, the Pharisee, watched and approved the stoning of Stephen.  Then, going from house to house, he took many men and women and put them in prison as he attempted to destroy the young Church.

But Jesus wasn't through with Saul yet.  On the road to Damascus -- on his way to put more Christians in prison -- he met the risen Christ, and his life was changed forever!  He became "Paul, the Apostle" who always marveled at how he could be forgiven for so much.  Paul called himself the "chief of sinners".

Remembering how he was forgiven and the forgiving spirit of Christ and Stephen, Paul gave the rest of his life in service to his new Master and Lord.

Jesus told us that if someone has something against us, we need to go to that person and ask for forgiveness and be reconciled. 
"Bear with each other and forgive whatever
grievances you may have against one another.  Forgive as the Lord forgave you."  Colossians 3:13, NIV.
HOME
The Pathway of Trust
The Pathway of Forgiving
The Pathway of Service
The
Pathway of Perseverance
The Pathway of Love
The Pathway of Compassion
The Pathway of Prayer
No one can repay the huge debt we owe Christ.  But each of us has access to God's total forgiveness.
God
forgave His tormentors.
When Christ was being crucified, he cried out from the cross:  "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." Luke 23:34, NIV.  God forgave His tormentors!