In the light of the stunningly beautiful emphasis in the Bible on God’s amazing readiness to forgive us all our sins, it is truly a shocker when we read that in this instance he will not forgive us. Listen to Jesus’ warning:
“If you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” Matthew 6:14-15 (NIV)
If we go into eternity with our sins unforgiven, isn’t that what it means to be lost?
Now it seems to me that all unforgiveness arises out of what I’m going to call “aggrieved self-righteousness”.
"aggrieved" means, “feeling resentment at having been unfairly treated.”
“self-righteousness" means thinking "I would never stoop to such insulting behavior!" In other words, I refuse to notice or tolerate the sense of my own evil and the pain it has inflicted on others.
Are you having trouble forgiving someone? O.k., so were you were unfairly treated? Well, what about your own evil and the pain you’ve inflicted on others? You, like the rest of us, have no excuse, but Jesus is saying that if we choose to hang on to our aggrieved self-righteousness anyway, we will remain unforgiven by God and lost.
We simply cannot take Jesus’s words too seriously. Take care of any unforgiveness in your heart right now. And here’s the key: first open your heart to the Lord in repentance, confessing your unforgiveness to him. Then tell the Lord that you are willing to have him forgive that person through you. Pray something like, Lord, I forgive so-n-so, now let your forgiveness from the cross flow through me towards them.
And here’s the good news: your very own sins will themselves be caught up in that flow of God’s amazing and complete forgiveness. You too will be set free.
