Forgiveness is something extremely necessary in the Christian life, as we must fulfill and understand the real power that exists in forgiving those who, in some way, have offended us. Do you know what the meaning of the word forgiveness is? Forgiveness is the human action of getting rid of guilt, an offense, a debt, and so on. Forgiveness is a mental process that aims at eliminating any resentment, anger, grudge, or other negative feeling about a certain person or about oneself.
In the religious sphere, the concept of forgiveness is related to the so-called “process of spiritual purification,” an idea that is present in almost all religious doctrines and consists of eliminating feelings harmful to man, such as anger, hurt, or the desire for revenge. Source: Forgiveness – Meanings.
God’s Goodness in Forgiveness
We understand that God is good; He forgives our mistakes and sins. His grace reaches all who truly repent of their sins and invoke His forgiveness.
For you, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, And abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon You. (Psalm 86:5, NASB)
How Many Times Should We Forgive?
How many times should we forgive?
Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus *said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. (Matthew 18:21-22, NASB)
We understand that forgiveness is not just a mathematical sum, but it goes much further, because every time we forgive someone, even if they have wronged us more than once, we will forgive them as if it were the first time. We understand that when Jesus says we should grant forgiveness not seven times, but seventy times seven, that means 70 x 7 = 490 times.
What we understand is that forgiving someone 490 times means that, as Christians, we are willing to forgive as many times as necessary. Every day we ask God for forgiveness for our mistakes and sins committed through thoughts, words, and deeds, for our failures, and we have the conviction that He forgives us and cleanses us from all sin. In the same way, God desires that we come, every day, to be willing to forgive those who, in some way, have offended us.
God’s Inexhaustible Forgiveness
We can understand that God’s forgiveness is something inexhaustible for human beings, conditioned on our willingness to recognize and abandon sin and also to forgive our brothers. The release of forgiveness is something extremely important even for our prayer, because in the model prayer, the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus makes it very clear.
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. (Matthew 6:12, NASB)
We can understand that we are asking God to forgive our debts in the same way that we forgive our debtors, that is, God will forgive us to the extent that I forgive my neighbor. If I am not able to forgive my neighbor, how do I want to achieve God’s forgiveness?
The Need for Reconciliation
The Bible clearly teaches us that it is extremely necessary to seek reconciliation, because without reconciliation it is impossible to receive God’s forgiveness.
Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions. (Mark 11:25-26, NASB)
God’s word is clear in teaching us that we only receive forgiveness when we are able to forgive and, when we become unable to forgive, we also become unable to receive God’s forgiveness. The release of forgiveness is necessary because sin generates physical illnesses and in the soul. There are people who cannot release forgiveness and are imprisoned in illnesses.
Lack of Forgiveness as a Disease
The lack of forgiveness is such a serious matter because it is a disease that starts in the soul and can be seen through signs in the human body. What we mean here is that when I cannot forgive someone, not only does the soul get sick, but the body also gets sick along with that feeling. There are thousands and thousands of people who are sick because until today they have not been able to release forgiveness.
Below, we will list some psychosomatic diseases that are generated in the body by the lack of forgiveness release. Understanding the power of forgiveness.
- Anxiety: Anxiety is a feeling of nervousness, worry, or discomfort, being a normal human experience. It is also present in a wide range of psychiatric disorders, including generalized anxiety disorder, panic syndrome, and phobias. Although these diseases are different from each other, they all present distress and dysfunction specifically related to anxiety and fear.
- Dysthymia: (lack of motivation, low self-esteem, laziness).
- Anguish: (emptiness of the soul, deep inner despair, loneliness).
- Depression: Depression includes a feeling of sadness (or, in children and adolescents, irritability) and/or loss of interest in activities. In major depressive disorder, these symptoms last two weeks or more and interfere with functioning or cause significant distress. Symptoms may occur after a recent loss or other sad event, but they are disproportionate to the event and persist beyond the appropriate time. Mood dysregulation disorder involves persistent irritability and frequent episodes of behavior that is excessively out of control.
- Oppression: (lack of reaction, imprisonment, blinded vision, slavery, obsession).
- Paranoia: (grandiosity mania, persecution mania, selfishness and egocentrism).
- Panic Syndrome: Panic syndrome consists of recurrent panic attacks that cause excessive worry about future attacks and/or behavior changes to avoid situations that could trigger an attack.
- Schizophrenia: Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by loss of contact with reality (psychosis), hallucinations (it is common to hear voices), false convictions (delusions), abnormal thinking and behavior, reduced emotional expressions, decreased motivation, worsening of mental function (cognition), and problems in daily performance, including in professional, social, relationships, and self-care areas.
- OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder): Total enslavement of the mind through exaggerated repetitions and absolutely destructive thoughts of normal mind functions.
- Madness: (total lack of control of activities: active mind, reason, memory, reasoning without synchronism, thoughts without connection).
- Suicide: Suicidal behavior includes completed suicide and suicide attempt. Suicidal thoughts and plans are called suicidal ideation.
Source: MSD MANUAL FAMILY HEALTH VERSION.
God’s Daily Invitation
All these are diseases that are generated in the human body when we are not forgiveness releasers, that is, we turn our body into a sick body. Every day, God invites us to be forgiveness releasers, but unfortunately, many times our heart has been found hardened. Unfortunately, human beings have preferred to kill love to live with pain.
One day, we were all in the condition of sinners and needed God’s forgiveness to reconcile with Him again.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (Romans 3:23, NASB)
Only through Jesus Christ do we receive forgiveness, and Jesus left as an example that we should also forgive our brothers.
Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. (Ephesians 4:32, NASB)
Becoming a New Creature
When we raise our hands to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives, we become a new creature and begin to walk according to His will. And it is God’s desire that we come to be forgiveness releasers. God desires that we come to observe Christ’s steps and that we come to walk in the same way that He walked, forgiving our enemies and loving our neighbor.
Jesus Christ desires that we come to have a pure heart full of love, because love produces health not only for the body but also produces health for the soul. Unfortunately, many times we will be persecuted and even, why not say, cursed by certain people. Many times, being persecuted by someone saddens our hearts, but we have to know how to carry with us only feelings that do us good.
Blessing the Persecutors
From our mouth and from our heart must overflow only blessing words, that is, we have to bless those who persecute us. Our word has power and when we cast a word of blessing over the life of a person who, in some way, persecutes or saddens us, we change their history in the future. If we curse our enemy, certainly he will continue to be worse than he is today, because over him are cast only words of curse.
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. (Romans 12:14, NASB)
Filtering What Does Good
When we live according to God’s will, we become forgiveness releasers and blessers, regardless of whether someone does us good or evil. In our life, we must perform a filtering of what does us good. What does us harm we must leave by the roadside, as if we were walking with two bags, one with a bottom and the other without a bottom.
In the bag with a bottom, we store everything that adds physical and spiritual health. In the bag without a bottom, we put everything that does us harm physically and spiritually, we get rid of all negative load, all hatred, all grudge, and all sadness. We must free up space in our body, mind, and soul so that we can experience the benefits of having a healthy life that comes only through forgiveness.
Avoiding Negative Feelings
We should never carry with us feelings like hurt, grudge, sadness, and so on. People who carry these bad feelings live for them. They live with feelings of evil, sadness, grudge, trying to do evil to other people, because in their lives is carried the scar of the lack of forgiveness release.
Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:19-21, NASB)
Leaving Vengeance to God
God teaches us that vengeance belongs to Him to carry out, that is, we understand that when we are hurt by words and attitudes and hand it over to God’s hands, He is the one who judges that situation. Nothing goes unnoticed before God. And God contemplates us when we are offended, when our hearts are saddened.
God teaches us that if our enemy is hungry, we should give him food and drink. When we do this, we heap burning coals on his head. We cannot allow evil to overcome our good attitudes, because good is infinitely greater and produces health for our body and also our soul.
Release forgiveness, free your body, and heal your soul!
