He FORGIVES
AND FORGETS as if our transgressions had never happened. He LOVES us as
if we had never transgressed.
Formerly I
would ruminate over trespasses, repenting again and again through tears
of guilt and shame. Yet the Lord would shake His head and say, “What are
you talking about? I remember NO such thing. Your earnest repentance cast
this behind you and the blood of the Lamb erased all record of it. Furthermore,
I discarded it as something to be forgotten. Why insist on digging up dead
bones?”
Just as we
bury the dead six feet under never to be dug up again, so does G-d bury
our offenses never to be remembered again.
Hence, so are
we to bury wrongs committed against ourselves.
A Judaic teaching
says that he who refuses to forgive when asked for forgiveness commits
a greater sin than the sinner himself. Yeshua taught the same.
Unforgiveness
is a CARDINAL sin!
How can we
see the cross and His suffering for our sins – and THEN REFUSE TO FORGIVE
him/her who has wronged us or whom we imagine has wronged us?
THAT, my friend,
IS UNFORGIVABLE!
Furthermore,
a mere “I forgive you” without love is NOT enough. Love MUST follow. Fulfilling
the commandment our Redeemer and Lord gave us when He said, “A new commandment
I give you: Love one another as I HAVE LOVED YOU!” is essential.
Formerly we
were to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. But the NEW commandment
is to love one another as HE loved us. Hence, love and forgiveness are
joined together – for one cannot be without the other.
I had friends
whose love and friendship I trusted as being faithful and enduring. Yet
when I erred in a time of great duress, rather than reprimanding me lovingly
they cut off all communication and “dropped me like a hot potato”.
“We have forgiven
you,” they said, “and we will always love you.” But since then I am as
good as dead to them and they have had no further dealings with me. It
is as though my imperfections soil their perfection and our friendship
has been spoiled for good. Do we not serve the same Lord?
Were the Lord
to forgive us this way, what hope would anyone have?
Another dearly
beloved friend with whom my soul was knit together joined with her husband
publicly to slander me in a local newspaper. As a result, I was cut off
from all our mutual friends except for one. I have never heard from any
of them again.
Is this the
kind of love and forgiveness the Lord shows us? Is this the love and forgiveness
He requires us to show one another?
My mother –
now with the Lord, may He bless her soul – twice said to me, “You are my
daughter no more!” when I came to faith in Yeshua and when we moved
to Israel. She cut off all communication with me, returning my letters
unopened and hanging up the phone on me. Nevertheless, I continued to send
her letters, flowers, birthday and holiday greetings and presents as if
she had never ever said these words and I continued to visit her. My unconditional
love persuaded her of the reality of Yeshua and G-d’s salvation by and
in Him. Through tears she asked for my forgiveness which I said she already
had and that I had never stopped loving her, my deeds being the proof of
it.
Later on she
needed my love when she succumbed to the Alzheimer's disease. Here there
was no room for unforgiveness, bitterness, or a grudge.
Who can afford
not to forgive? I am careful to practice forgiveness and unconditional
love because I myself am daily in need of G-d’s forgiveness and unfailing
love.
How can any
of us say, “Jesus/Yeshua, I love You! Father in heaven, I worship and love
You!” if we fail to walk in the foremost, foundational rules of His Kingdom:
