Freedom Through Forgivenessنموونە

What Is Forgiveness?

Forgiveness is a topic discussed at many levels. Some say it is an action you take, while others believe it is a feeling you experience. People hold a wide range of views on this topic, making it challenging to find a clear definition.

The commandment of forgiveness from God comes down to one thing: a decision. It does include actions and feelings, but without the decision to forgive, you will be stuck in the trap of unforgiveness.

Forgiveness Is a Decision

I have made this statement to many people. The responses I encounter range from "Hmmm, I never thought of that" to "Ok...I wish it were that easy." But in life, there are hard decisions to make.

Forgiveness is not always the easiest decision to make, but just because something is hard doesn't mean it's impossible. We all reach a point where we must decide whether to do something we know we need to do or ignore it. Forgiveness is no different. We will all be faced with this decision, and it is too important to allow anything else except the Bible to define what forgiveness is.

Go To the Source

The best way to understand that forgiveness is a decision is to turn to the unchanging source—the Bible. The Bible has many true-life events, parables, and quotes that we should learn from, but even more importantly, the Bible is alive and active.

The Bible is the only thing that can penetrate a person's heart and bring about lasting change. Let us examine what the Bible has to say about forgiveness. By the end of this study, you will see that at its core, forgiveness is SIMPLY (not necessarily easily) a decision that we make.

"Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." -Ephesians 4:32 ESV emphasis added.

We can choose to do what Jesus would do or to follow what feels easier for us. God gives us the ability to choose obedience or disobedience; He doesn’t want us to be like robots. Instead, He wants us to choose Him, just as He chose us.

Paul is urging us to BE kind and BE tenderhearted as part of forgiving one another. This means you have the choice not to be kind or tenderhearted. It's up to us to decide what kind of person you will be.

However, always keep in mind that there are results for each decision, and in this case, the results are very different.

"For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." - Matthew 6:14-15 ESV

Matthew says, "If you forgive, you will be forgiven; but if you do not forgive, you will not be forgiven." That means you have a choice in your own will about what you will do.

Your decision to forgive determines the results you will receive.

From these two verses, we can see that forgiveness is a decision. God is not forcing you to forgive, but He does command us to, which we will see more of in the next day’s devotional.