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Topic :THE RESPONSIBILITY TO FORGIVE IS OURS
Many divorced people have a battle with unforgiveness.
It is easy for a wife to have bitterness against a husband who has mistreated her. It is easy for a husband to have resentment
against a wife who has left him. I have heard more than onewife say,
“He is guilty. He ruined my life! He left me without
anything. I had to take care of the children myself.”
That wife is right; he is guilty. But only the guilty need mercy. Guilty people must be forgiven, not for their sakes, but
for ours! Why? Jesus tells us: “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if
you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14–15).
If you forgive, you will be forgiven.
If you do not forgive, you will not be forgiven.
There is no alternative. God will only forgive us as we forgive others.
Jesus put the responsibility upon us to initiate the forgiveness. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus again mentioned forgiveness: “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our
debtors” (Matthew 6:12).
Resentment, bitterness, and unforgiveness release a negative force within our entire beings. It is a very dangerous force that grows stronger each day we choose not to follow the teachings of Jesus.
The relationship between you and other members of your family is very important. The relationship between a mother-in-
law and daughter-in-law is an area where there needs to be a searching of the heart; likewise, between mother-in-law and
son-in-law, between parents and children, and between brothers and sisters.
One day, as I allowed the Holy Spirit to search my heart for anything that He might find offensive, He showed me that I
had held things against my mother and daddy. They quarreled a lot when I was a child, and I grew up resenting the tension
that it produced in my heart and in our home. I lived in fear of them divorcing. I remember many times crying over their
disputes.
As the Lord began to speak to me about the critical thoughts I had toward my parents, He reminded me that when I
was a boy, my parents did not have an automatic washing machine. They did not have many of the conveniences that are
plentiful in our day. We had a large family, and it had not been easy for my parents to raise us during the Great Depression.
My heart was broken because of my wrong attitude.
I was a successful minister. God had blessed my life in many ways, yet I still had areas of unforgiveness in my heart.
Opening my heart to the Lord Jesus, I saw those unpleasant memories were actually areas of unforgiveness.
Parents have to be willing to forgive their children.
Perhaps your children have really hurt you badly. They may be guilty of some terrible wrongs, but you must forgive. As you forgive them, you will be forgiven, and healing will come to your spirit, mind, and body.
