Ten Days of Awe Devotionals - Day 7

This devotional talks about the second half of forgiveness.  Seems to me I need to work on this side too

God Bless.

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Day 7 (10/1/14)

Let’s look at two stories about forgiveness! The first is found in the Bible and it is one of the great parables spoken by Jesus on this issue of forgiveness, which was one of His favorite topics. The second is a well-known encounter experienced between Corrie ten Boom and a German prison guard

The parable is found in the Gospel of Matthew 18:23-35 with a brief introduction to the story in verses 21-22. Take a moment and read the story – it will just take a few minutes!

21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” 22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. 26 At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. 28 But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. 29 His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’ 30 But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened. 32 Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. 35 This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

Jesus indicates that someone who receives forgiveness can forfeit that forgiveness by refusing to forgive others. Jesus makes the point clear: “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses” (Matt. 18:35).

That was the terrible error of the unforgiving servant in Jesus’ parable (Matt. 18:23-35; see also Matt. 5:7; Mk. 11:25). He did not rightly appreciate the forgiveness given to him and was cut off from the forgiveness granted to him earlier and his debt was reinstated (Matt. 18:34). The obvious truth Jesus presents is that proof positive of being forgiven is forgiving. Please do not misunderstand the Savior! He is not suggesting that there is any other precondition upon receiving His forgiveness other than faith (Eph. 2:8-9), but true faith in Jesus comes with a sincere repentance and desire to change. This faith, which is a gift from God, turns us away from sin and towards the Lord.

Evidently, this wicked servant did not really comprehend the Master’s gift of forgiveness as he treated those who worked for him with such cruelty and ingratitude instead of how he himself was treated. Again, our salvation is not based on forgiving others, yet it is also true that citizens of the kingdom of God are marked by the ability to forgive!

The following story told by Corrie ten Boom is a magnificent illustration of our struggle to forgive.

It was in a church in Munich that I saw him, a balding heavy-set man in a gray overcoat, a brown felt hat clutched between his hands. People were filing out of the basement room where I had just spoken. It was 1947 and I had come from Holland to defeated Germany with the message that God forgives.

And that's when I saw him, working his way forward against the others. One moment I saw the overcoat and the brown hat; the next, a blue uniform and a visored cap with its skull and crossbones. It came back with a rush: the huge room with its harsh overhead lights, the pathetic pile of dresses and shoes in the center of the floor, the shame of walking naked past this man. I could see my sister's frail form ahead of me, ribs sharp beneath the parchment skin. Betsie, how thin you were! Betsie and I had been arrested for concealing Jews in our home during the Nazi occupation of Holland; this man had been a guard at Ravensbruck concentration camp where we were sent.

"You mentioned Ravensbruck in your talk," he was saying. "I was a guard in there." No, he did not remember me.

"But since that time," he went on, "I have become a Christian. I know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things I did there, but I would like to hear it from your lips as well. Fraulein, " his hand came out, ... "will you forgive me?"

And I stood there — I whose sins had every day to be forgiven — and could not. Betsie had died in that place — could he erase her slow terrible death simply for the asking? It could not have been many seconds that he stood there, hand held out, but to me it seemed hours as I wrestled with the most difficult thing I had ever had to do. For I had to do it — I knew that. The message that God forgives has a prior condition: that we forgive those who have injured us. "If you do not forgive men their trespasses," Jesus says, "neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses."

And still I stood there with the coldness clutching my heart. But forgiveness is not an emotion — I knew that too. Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart. "Jesus, help me!" I prayed silently. "I can lift my hand, I can do that much. You supply the feeling." And so woodenly, mechanically, I thrust my hand into the one stretched out to me. And as I did, an incredible thing took place. The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, sprang into our joined hands. And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes. "I forgive you, brother!" I cried. "With all my heart!" For a long moment we grasped each other's hands, the former guard and the former prisoner. I had never known God's love so intensely as I did then.

As the Palmist concludes,

If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared (Psalm 130:3-4).

Scriptural Meditation:

The ability to forgive is a reflection of our salvation. It is not the basis but the evidence that the Holy Spirit has performed a true work of God in our hearts. Therefore, we really must view forgiveness as a spiritual duty for people of faith. This is at the heart of these Ten Days of Awe. Jewish people understand that forgiving others is not an option, but rather an obligation.

May the Lord give you the power to be like Corrie ten Boom and forgive those who perhaps have harmed you the most. Even God Himself does not “mark iniquities,” for if He did, none of us would be able to survive His judgment. Again the Psalmist writes regarding our sin,

As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us (Ps.103:12).

If God removes our sins from His view, how can we not try and do the same for those who have sinned against us?

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