Should We Need To Forgive Only When Someone Asks Sorry For Their Offenses?
Question : We need to "forgive [only like] as the Lord forgave us". How did the Lord forgive us, only when we came to confess to Him our sin, so we ought to do towards others. Is it right? Similarly as we come to Jesus to ASK for His forgiveness, after which He forgives us (Col.3:13), there is no requirement for us to forgive if we are not ASKED for forgiveness by the one who has offended us. Yes, we are to forgive seventy times seven (Matt.18:21-22 below), but if we are not ASKED for forgiveness we do not have a requirement to forgive. Obviously the offending party does not believe they need to be forgiven.
Matt.18:21 : "Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?"
Matt.18:22 : "Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven."
Col.3:13 : "Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you."
Answer : Jesus said that offenses will come because Satan as the god of this world runs the show temporarily on earth as God has allowed him and he is working always against the children of God (Matt 18:7; 17:1; 2 Cor 4:4; Eph 2:1-2; 1 Peter 5:8; 2 Cor 2:10-11). When offenses comes against us by being thrown by the demonic camps which works through people, we should then forgive people from our heart but fight against the devils that work in people by praying against it (Eph 6:12, 11). Satan's primary weapon against all believers through which he gains entry with a easy footing in to their spiritual lives is through unforgiveness. God also will legally not be able to stand against His own justice even though He loves each believer personally, so He will let the torturers of Satan to take control of the unforgiving person because of lack of thankfulness in replicating what God has done to them, till thy realize that they need to forgive others unconditionally like their Father in heaven who has forgiven all their past, present and future sins once and for all time from His heart, and also readily forgives their besetting-sins whenever they confess it to Him to regain fellowship with Him (Rom 1:21; Matt 6:14-15; Heb 10:17-18; 1 John 1:9). So there are two aspects where we need to forgive others sins, one is from our heart which can be done each day and moment by blessing others ourselves through our word of prayer and confession to avoid bad attitude towards others offense, then forgive others to have fellowship with us in our private space when they come back to us to ask us sorry for what they have done. And so Jesus said, "...when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them [from your heart], so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins." (Mark 11:25). If we do not forgive from our heart someone who offended us, God will treat us the way we treat others in our heart, if we continue to have a grudge against them (Matt 18:34-35). But once we forgive those who have offended us unconditionally and let it go, God will also like wise keep us in His love and forgive all our offenses to make us realize His awesome Presence within us to bless us in Divine fellowship with Himself (1 John 1:7, 3-4). Jesus emphasized that even if we get angry against someone in our heart without a cause and allow it to become a grudge against that person, it is already in the eyes of God like we have committed murder spiritually (Matt 5:21-22).
Jesus has raised even the least of the New Covenant believers spiritual status very high and has empowered us all so much more to live victorious over all evil, that the greatest Old Testament saint ever lived is considered less than the least one of us (Matt 11:11), so one need not wait until the offender comes to ask for forgiveness to us. But to maintain our attitude inline with that of Jesus' attitude (1 Peter 2:21, 23-24; 2 Cor 5:21), we forgive from our heart those who have offended us by blessing them, doing good for them and praying for them, and committing them in to the hands of God so that salvation, true repentance and sanity of the fear of God might come in to their lives through our patience (Matt 5:43-45; 1 Peter 2:12).
The very word forgiveness means, 'stop feeling angry or resentful towards (someone) for an offence, flaw, or mistake, to stop feeling resentful and malice towards and feel no malice and resentment towards, harbour no grudge against, no longer feel angry about or wish to punish (an offence, flaw, or mistake). To cancel (a debt).' In other words, forgiveness changes our feelings towards others and so it is a spiritual thing at its depth than an external thing of words and actions. If we have truly forgiven someone who have offended us, we will not be anymore angry against them. We have the right as believers in Jesus Christ to freely go to our heavenly Father daily and ask Him to forgive us only if we have already forgiven someone from our heart their offenses towards us (Matt 6:9-10, 11-12; John 1:12).
Offense is an insult annoyance or resentment brought about by a perceived insult to or disregard for oneself by those who breach a law or rule and do an illegal act. So according to God offenses will come against us as long as we are in the world because Satan, selfishness and sinful nature of humans work together (John 17:15-16). The offenders act knowingly by rebellion against God's holy ways and further unknowingly by deception when they continue in their sins and are controlled and maligned by Satan and his demons to be used against God's children (John 8:44).
Remember, unforgiveness is like drinking poison and expecting the other who have offended us to die. Whether the offending party does believe they need to be forgiven or not is none of our business (Matt 7:1-5), but rather to let go off their offenses by using the Divine nature deposited within us is very very essential to stay blessed in God. So forgiveness is not just an external act of saying 'I forgive' to people who have offended us when they come to ask us sorry, but rather it is higher Divine level of loving our enemies, blessing those who curse us, doing good to those who hate us, and pray for those who spitefully use us and persecute us so that we may be sons of our Father in heaven who does the same things to all the evil people who act against Him. In short, when we forgive and act like God, we do not change but the one who offends us will be changed by God. We become a channel of Divine Blessing when we choose to keep forgiving others no matter what their offenses are. So let us learn to forgive those who have offended us from our heart, so that our Heavenly Father in heaven be pleased with our life to shower His special favor upon us (Matt 18:35).
Much Blessings....
Matt.18:21 : "Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?"
Matt.18:22 : "Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven."
Col.3:13 : "Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you."
Answer : Jesus said that offenses will come because Satan as the god of this world runs the show temporarily on earth as God has allowed him and he is working always against the children of God (Matt 18:7; 17:1; 2 Cor 4:4; Eph 2:1-2; 1 Peter 5:8; 2 Cor 2:10-11). When offenses comes against us by being thrown by the demonic camps which works through people, we should then forgive people from our heart but fight against the devils that work in people by praying against it (Eph 6:12, 11). Satan's primary weapon against all believers through which he gains entry with a easy footing in to their spiritual lives is through unforgiveness. God also will legally not be able to stand against His own justice even though He loves each believer personally, so He will let the torturers of Satan to take control of the unforgiving person because of lack of thankfulness in replicating what God has done to them, till thy realize that they need to forgive others unconditionally like their Father in heaven who has forgiven all their past, present and future sins once and for all time from His heart, and also readily forgives their besetting-sins whenever they confess it to Him to regain fellowship with Him (Rom 1:21; Matt 6:14-15; Heb 10:17-18; 1 John 1:9). So there are two aspects where we need to forgive others sins, one is from our heart which can be done each day and moment by blessing others ourselves through our word of prayer and confession to avoid bad attitude towards others offense, then forgive others to have fellowship with us in our private space when they come back to us to ask us sorry for what they have done. And so Jesus said, "...when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them [from your heart], so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins." (Mark 11:25). If we do not forgive from our heart someone who offended us, God will treat us the way we treat others in our heart, if we continue to have a grudge against them (Matt 18:34-35). But once we forgive those who have offended us unconditionally and let it go, God will also like wise keep us in His love and forgive all our offenses to make us realize His awesome Presence within us to bless us in Divine fellowship with Himself (1 John 1:7, 3-4). Jesus emphasized that even if we get angry against someone in our heart without a cause and allow it to become a grudge against that person, it is already in the eyes of God like we have committed murder spiritually (Matt 5:21-22).
Jesus has raised even the least of the New Covenant believers spiritual status very high and has empowered us all so much more to live victorious over all evil, that the greatest Old Testament saint ever lived is considered less than the least one of us (Matt 11:11), so one need not wait until the offender comes to ask for forgiveness to us. But to maintain our attitude inline with that of Jesus' attitude (1 Peter 2:21, 23-24; 2 Cor 5:21), we forgive from our heart those who have offended us by blessing them, doing good for them and praying for them, and committing them in to the hands of God so that salvation, true repentance and sanity of the fear of God might come in to their lives through our patience (Matt 5:43-45; 1 Peter 2:12).
The very word forgiveness means, 'stop feeling angry or resentful towards (someone) for an offence, flaw, or mistake, to stop feeling resentful and malice towards and feel no malice and resentment towards, harbour no grudge against, no longer feel angry about or wish to punish (an offence, flaw, or mistake). To cancel (a debt).' In other words, forgiveness changes our feelings towards others and so it is a spiritual thing at its depth than an external thing of words and actions. If we have truly forgiven someone who have offended us, we will not be anymore angry against them. We have the right as believers in Jesus Christ to freely go to our heavenly Father daily and ask Him to forgive us only if we have already forgiven someone from our heart their offenses towards us (Matt 6:9-10, 11-12; John 1:12).
Offense is an insult annoyance or resentment brought about by a perceived insult to or disregard for oneself by those who breach a law or rule and do an illegal act. So according to God offenses will come against us as long as we are in the world because Satan, selfishness and sinful nature of humans work together (John 17:15-16). The offenders act knowingly by rebellion against God's holy ways and further unknowingly by deception when they continue in their sins and are controlled and maligned by Satan and his demons to be used against God's children (John 8:44).
Remember, unforgiveness is like drinking poison and expecting the other who have offended us to die. Whether the offending party does believe they need to be forgiven or not is none of our business (Matt 7:1-5), but rather to let go off their offenses by using the Divine nature deposited within us is very very essential to stay blessed in God. So forgiveness is not just an external act of saying 'I forgive' to people who have offended us when they come to ask us sorry, but rather it is higher Divine level of loving our enemies, blessing those who curse us, doing good to those who hate us, and pray for those who spitefully use us and persecute us so that we may be sons of our Father in heaven who does the same things to all the evil people who act against Him. In short, when we forgive and act like God, we do not change but the one who offends us will be changed by God. We become a channel of Divine Blessing when we choose to keep forgiving others no matter what their offenses are. So let us learn to forgive those who have offended us from our heart, so that our Heavenly Father in heaven be pleased with our life to shower His special favor upon us (Matt 18:35).
Much Blessings....
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