Forgive God’s Way (Part II)

By Odon Bulamba (17 January 2003)

God’s forgiveness is about love, and the Christian who doesn’t know God’s forgiveness is like a goat in the middle of sheep. You’ve already received salvation so understand God’s forgiveness; God’s forgiveness means to sacrifice your life for others.

The beginning of this started when Jesus was on the cross and He said, “Father forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing”. People heard Jesus but nobody went up to Jesus to ask for His forgiveness. Jesus knew that it was time to forgive man and forget about what happened. How many times do we as Christians leave our high place and go down to other people’s level to forgive them? How many times do we reduce ourselves to nothing by asking for God’s help to forgive? There are not many parents in this world who ask for their child’s forgiveness, it is always the child who has to ask. Jesus left His throne to come on this earth so that we might be forgiven, what humility? You know where Jesus was born and you know Jesus had a poor family. Jesus left His heavenly kingdom for these conditions.

If you are asked to leave and go to Africa or Vietnam, it will be hell for you, is this true? Jesus didn’t complain but forgave. God’s forgiveness can foresee danger in the future, and when you have eyes to see this, help those who are weak. Don’t wait until people come to you and ask for forgiveness, go to them instead and forgive them directly, this is enough.

There are some fruits regarding forgiveness, and one of them is reconciliation. Every Christian must love reconciliation, if you don’t like this word then it is time to ask God where you are up to. Each Christian must be in a good relationship with His God, so how can you be in a good relationship with God if you are not in a good relationship with man? Every Christian wants their prayer answered but it says that before you pray you have to fix the problem with your brother.

Another fruit of forgiveness is that it helps take away all the bitterness because if you are a Christian with bitter feelings then you have to question your faith. Run towards Jesus and ask Him to help you, He is always ready to help you be transformed.

Another example of divine forgiveness is revival. In the book of Philippians there were 2 sisters praying with the church, but there was a spirit of non-forgiveness among them. Paul said that the spirit of forgiveness was needed, and when this happened revival came to the church. We have to forgive because God asks us to.

Forgiveness must have a pure conscience. These are the points for the fruits of forgiveness. Luke says that the freedom of forgiveness is in the Lord, if you want freedom only Jesus can give it. To know Jesus Christ means to receive Him into your life and as you walk together He will teach you to love your neighbour. The enemy of someone can be your great friend. How many times has God forgiven you? How many times have you forgiven? Do you ask for details when someone asks you to forgive them? We must forgive without condition because it is covered by love. If you know the fruits of love you will forgive easily.

As Christians we must not fear death, we are called to have the fear of God first. If we don’t fear God how can we go to Him and ask for forgiveness? One day when I was praying God helped me to understand something. When Christians ask God for forgiveness they say, God forgive me for all the evil I’ve done. They don’t even have an idea of what they’ve done wrong, and this is normal for them. We must know how to forgive.

Forgiveness is not a process, when Jesus was on the cross He said it is finished, that’s it. Jesus didn’t start asking His disciples about what they had done previously. God’s grace is enough because Jesus blood covers everything. Do not talk about someone’s wrong when they ask you to forgive them, or do not go into depth because depth calls on more depth. If you do call on for more depth be ready for the consequences. Don’t ask for explanations. If someone kills your mother or father, forgive him or her; maybe it was God’s plan for him or her to die.