The Walk Of Forgiveness: "As God In Christ Forgave You"

Eph. 4: 29-32 "Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."

As we have begun our series in 1 John, one of the chief things we see John promoting in his letter is how we are to walk with one another in biblical love. John doesn't encourage us to do this based out of mere moralism...that we are to love because it is good to do...but instead, our love and how we walk with one another is a reflection of the Gospel itself.

Below, is an excerpt from Ken Sande's book The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide To Resolving Conflict. I wanted to share this with you as I found it particularly encouraging as we seek to really put "feet" on what it looks like to biblically love one another as sinners. In relationship with one another there will always be this constant reality - we will not only sin - but sin against one another. In light of sins that take place in our relationships with one another there is always that question of how do we walk out biblical forgiveness, so that we can be truly reconciled to one another? However, as Paul reminds us from Ephesians 4, there was a particular way that God in Christ has forgiven us - and we are to do so to one another "as" God in Christ has done so with us.

Here Mr. Sande, gives us some practical advice with a very practical illustration for how this one form of love, called "forgiveness" can be walked out in further ways...of restoring trust to the relationship.

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"Forgiven, But Not Trusted?"
"Loving actions can do much more than change your feelings; they can also communicate in unmistakable terms the reality of your forgiveness and your commitment to reconciliation. Thomas Edison apparently understood this principle. When he and his staff were developing the incandescent light bulb, it took hundreds of hours to manufacture a single bulb. One day, after finishing a bulb, he handed it to a young errand boy and asked him to take it upstairs to the testing room. As the boy turned and started up the stairs, he stumbled and fell, and the bulb shattered on the steps. Instead of rebuking the boy, Edison reassured him and then turned to his staff and told them to start working on another bulb. When it was completed several days later, Edison demonstrated the reality of his forgiveness in the most powerful way possible. He walked over to the same boy, handed him the bulb, and said, "Please take this up to the testing room." Imagine how that boy must have felt. He knew that he didn't deserve to be trusted with this responsibility again. Yet, here it was, being offered to him as though nothing had happened. Nothing could have restored this boy to the team more clearly, more quickly, or more fully. How much more should those of us who have experienced reconciliation with God be quick to demonstrate our forgiveness with concrete actions" (p. 222-223).

Food for Thought from Peacemakers Ministry:
One of the central (and often most neglected) elements of forgiveness is offering our trust again to the one who failed us. In some cases, it is entirely appropriate and necessary for us to set restrictions on a person who has violated trust (for example, prohibiting an adult who has hurt children from being alone with other children in the future, even when the adult is forgiven). But in many cases, withholding trust from those we forgive can be just a subtle form of continuing punishment or failure to truly reconcile. Isn't it good that God doesn't require that we "earn His trust" when we fail Him? Each day He gives us opportunities to experience His restoration and [a personal relationship with Him], not just His forgiveness.

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Thank you Lord for the gospel that reconciles us not only to Him in the legal fashion of justification, but to Him relationally - in adoption as His children as well! May we walk this road of the gospel out with one another as well! We were once His enemies, but now because of the Gospel, we are now seated at His table!