July 14, 2015 WWJWMTD by Steve the son of John

The Complexity of Forgiveness

#2 in the series on forgiveness

For many of us we think forgiveness is simple—the world and especially our political system would like us to believe that—but actually it is complex.

Let’s review what we have to ask forgiveness for:

ü Our sin (mistakes, wrong actions) that God says are inappropriate deeds.

ü Impure thoughts—evil we would like to happen to others or are involved in ourselves.

ü The sins of others that affect us—directly or indirectly.

ü Historical sins of individuals, family, generations, corporate & national—deviant life styles that are handed down to us through un-forgiveness.

ü The effects and consequences of our own sins (i.e. cause & effect of sin).

ü Secret sins of our heart, motives or actions.

ü Inappropriate words that do harm to others—heard or not heard by them.

This is a short list of ‘sin types/styles’ we do to each other, not to God. If I would list the specifics it would take a chapter of a book. My point is this—do not think that sin is not complex and intricate. Sin is real, has a mind of its own and impacts not only you but also everyone around you at that specific time and can for generations to come.

It is our task as Christians to take forgiveness seriously. Sin acts like dye in a glass of water. It effects and penetrates every molecule of the water. Only forgiveness that is complete and just as potent as sin itself can remove the impact and effects of any sin.

When we look for forgiveness we have to approach it from this prospective:

ü When we sin it not only injures us but also anyone that is connected to us.

ü Sin has history—find forgiveness not for just the sin but the root-causes of the sin. (Confess your sin and any impact or consequence of the sin.)

ü Other people’s sins can impact us. We must find forgiveness for others that did not ask forgiveness for their sin (i.e. to stand in the gap for others).

ü Sins that only you know about are just as deadly as obvious blatant sins.

ü There are sins of wrong motives, thoughts and words; forgiveness is critical.

ü There are sins that we know we did something wrong, and there are sins that at the time of the action we did not realize it was sin, this needs forgiveness also. (Often sins of ‘tempting God’ fall into this category.)

ü Only forgiveness through Christ can erase sin and its hold on our lives.

Next time the Holy Spirit is compelling you to repent—do it quickly and completely. Ask that all aspects of your sin, all the consequences, and the harm it has done (the domino effect) be also forgiven. Do not allow your sin or other’s sins to impact you or circumstances around you. True forgiveness is complete and compels God to respond in like manner. “Be perfect like your heavenly Father is perfect”—completely & perfectly forgiven!

WWJWMTD

Dr. Steven J. Wentland www.wwjwmtd.com

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