Lesson of Forgiveness

Today, the Lord gave me a wonderful experience of forgiving my brothers who have hurt me in the past by their lies and committing things not expected of them despite the trust I have had in them. In fact, I had even blocked one of them for his repeated calls which I refuse to attend as I could not trust him in his words anymore. Repeated offenses put a negative marking on them and I was so upset with them. I did not know how to handle the situation in dealing with them so I just prayed to the Lord for more grace that I should not regard them negatively as they are my brothers in the Lord. It was a tough time for me to reconcile the fact that they are my brothers yet they behave unbecomingly of being brothers in the Lord. Emotionally I was hurt and it pains me deep within. Nevertheless, they are still my brothers.

Today morning in my time with the Lord, the Lord told me to forgive all of them. I turned to the Lord and take His grace and His forgiveness as my forgiveness. Then, I unblocked the brother’s number I blocked over a month ago. I called up another brother and maintained the relationship as brothers and asked for a monthly fellowship and prayer over the phone. After this experience of the Lord’s forgiveness in forgiving my brothers, my attitude toward them completely changed. I do not regard them as I used to do before.  The cloud between them and me has cleared up and I could normally reckon them as any other brothers in the Lord. What an experience of forgiveness!

The word forgiveness is not a doctrine to be preached and understood, but a price to pay by taking Christ as the Forgiver and forgiving in the forgiveness of Christ. What is humanly impossible or difficult is easy and possible with the Lord. The true Forgiver is the Lord and the true forgiveness is the Lord’s forgiveness experienced by us.

This reminds me of what the Lord said about forgiveness:

For if you forgive men their offenses, your heavenly Father will forgive you also; But if you do not forgive men their offenses, neither will your Father forgive your offenses. Matthew 6:14-15

I used to think that I could not be hurt easily by anyone, but I was proven wrong. I used to think that I can easily forgive others, and that too I was proven wrong. The more I grow in life, the more I realize how weak I am and how strong the Lord is. All my self-confidence decreases and I begin to trust in the Lord more. I begin to understand what John told about the Lord Jesus:

He must increase, but I must decrease. John 3:30

In the experience of forgiveness, it is the experience of I decreasing and the increase of Christ in me. Only when I decrease and Christ increase, then Christ’s forgiveness becomes my forgiveness.

Lord, increase in me and grow in me daily. May I decrease to the extent that I no more take preeminence but You only.