Subject: Can we not ask God to forgive another? |
Bible Note: WOS - I'm not equating man's forgiveness of others with God's. You wrote: "We should continue to forgive those who wrong us so long as they repent." My question: When one "trespasses" against another, who is actually being "tresspassed?" We can not forgive others for their trespass against God, but we can forgive them for their tresspass against us. We can even choose to forgive them unconditionally, meaning, they don't have to come and say "I'm sorry" before we choose to forgive them in our heart. When offended, most folks would rather repay "in kind" than forgive. What does Jesus tell us to do in Mt 5:39? (I've been told that we only have one cheek to turn though . . . is this what He would do?) We also also are admonished not to be conformed to the pattern of the world, but to be transformed - (Romans 12:1-2) so, what SHOULD our response to offense be? Might we strive to adopt and attitude of humility and compassion toward the offender, being mindful of our own sinfulness and God's forgivenss of us? Most of the time I suspect that when offended we are more concerned with our "rights" than our responsibilities toward God. Since this post was to be a source of encouragement to one who was offended, I would prefer to look to God for a response that will glorify Him. In doing so perhaps this will also be a source of encouragement to the offender to come to repentance toward God as well. imo, the strongest prison bars are made of unforgiveness and they are self built. Didn't Jesus came to free us from these bonds? We can forgive be cause we are forgiven. mommapbs |