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Topic: YOU HAVE THE POWER TO FORGIVE
You may say, “I do not have the power to forgive. I was so mistreated as a child that I could never forgive my parents for what they did.” Yes, you can. You can forgive because God provided forgiveness at the cross for you. You are forgiven, not because you deserve it, but by grace.
By the grace provided at the cross, you have the power necessary to forgive others. Isaiah 53:4–6 makes that perfectly
clear:
Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and af licted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
Only on the basis of the atoning death of Jesus Christ on the cross can we receive forgiveness from God.
Only on the basis of the grace of God offered to us by His death can we offer forgiveness to others.
It was at the cross that Jesus cancelled every claim of sin on our lives, and it is at the cross that we are empowered by
grace to forgive. “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has
been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Galatians 6:14).
Forgiveness is a decision. You must choose to forgive
whether you feel like it or not. As you stand on that decision, God in you will love the person who has wronged you. One day, you may suddenly realize that you cannot even remember the wrong they committed against you.
Receiving the forgiveness of God is also a decision. You choose to believe that God’s Word is true. If God said He would forgive you, He will. You do not deserve it, but forgiveness is yours because He loves you and desires fellowship with you. There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).
Forgiveness Is a Decision
