FORGIVENESS (PART1)

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To forgive is to pardon, to waive any negative feeling or desire for punishment. Forgiveness is the readiness to pardon or the act of forgiving or being forgiven. So many passages in the scriptures have shown us that our being forgiven of our wrongs by God is tied up to our forgiving others of the wrongs done to us..
"For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses"  - Matt 6:14-15.
To be able to forgive, one must pray for the grace to forbear. The ability to patiently and politely refrain oneself from doing something. God is merciful because of His long-sufferingness or ability to forbear. And because he is merciful He forgives.
"The Lord is longsuffering and of great mercy,forgiving iniquity and transgressions.." - Numbers 14:18.  
"Forbearing one another,and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any; even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye". - Col 3:13
Herein lies the key for us to be able possess this divine virtue of forbearing and forgiving "...even as Christ forgave you..."  How did Christ forgive you?
In the book of Luke 7:39-50, we see the story of how Jesus went to Simon the Pharisee's home to eat at his invitation and there came in a woman who anointed Jesus' feet. She bore a sinner's tag which Simon saw but  wondered why Jesus did not see it. Jesus told him a story about a certain Creditor who had two debtors. One debtor owed 500 pence and the other 50 pence. The Creditor forgave both debtors when they had no means of paying back what they owed. Then Jesus asked which of the debtors will love the Creditor the most? Naturally, the one who owed the more replied the pharisee.. Could there have be a difference in the love shown by the debtors if they were both aware of the consequences of their inability to pay their debts? If both knew that "the wages of sin is death" it will only amount to foolishness for one to love the Creditor more than the other. Beloved, the price paid over someone who lied is also the price paid over someone that killed - His Blood. What is your valuation of the Blood? To Simon the religious leader, it was 50pence and to the "sinner" woman, it was 500pence. For me, it is priceless, not just because it saved me from my "little sins" but because it saved me from death- the due punishment for my "little sins"
May God grant us this understanding in Jesus name.

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