John 20:23 (NKJV)
“If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
What if this is true? What if our forgiving another person totally erases his/her debt? If Jesus said this to His disciples, and I am a follower of Christ – a temple of the Holy Spirit, it must be true and applicable to me. It is a hard thought, but Jesus said it, so I believe it. Now, how does that change how I live?
In my experience there are at least three different phases of forgiveness. Like anything else, it is a process with me. First, it is an act of the will. Second, it is an act of the will plus choosing to not hold it against them. Last, it is asking God to forgive them. See, I can choose to forgive you and still leave you in the hands of God for punishment. You know, “I’ll forgive you but God’s gonna get you”. When I come to the place that I can fully forgive to the point that I can ask God to forgive you, THEN I have Christ-like forgiveness. The Holy Spirit in me makes that possible. I could never do it on my own. And Jesus is the perfect example. That is what He said on the cross… not “I forgive you” but “Father forgive them”.
But if I do that – they’ll get off scot-free! Exactly. That is the forgiveness offered to us from Christ. No matter what we do… being a rude and inconsiderate driver — or taking the life of someone created in His image… we don’t pay the penalty. Christ does. He pays it every day with the blood that He shed on the cross. How can we not freely offer that to someone else? Or are we like the wicked servant who was forgiven a huge sum of money only to throw his friend in jail for a ten dollar bill?
This is the picture I must maintain. To understand that the enormity of my sin against God is greater than anyones sin against me. If He forgives me, I must forgive them. So not only do I choose to forgive; I also choose to not personally hold you accountable, and I ask God himself to forgive you. I think that is the complete circle and that is where I want to live. My flesh does not like it. It’s not fair. Correct. It is not “fair”. But Jesus Christ already paid, so it is “just”. As God forgives me on Christ’s behalf, I can forgive others through power of the Holy Spirit and even God will not hold it against them.