A
Letter from our Chairman
Forgiveness - a big issue.
Like many other ministers, counsellors and prayer
supporters, my experience is that many people are hindered from getting healing
and peace and joy because of a problem with forgiveness.
In the pattern for our prayer which the Lord Jesus gave us, and which we
call “the Lord’s Prayer”, He made it so clear.
We cannot live with God here or in heaven unless we are forgiven for our
sin (personal) and our part in the sin of a fallen world (corporate and
institutional and universal). We
receive that forgiveness as we come to Jesus at the Cross and ask and confess.
Most of us who share this Magazine would testify to our new life
beginning when we started to understand a little about Jesus on the Cross.
We responded to God’s love in Christ and now rejoice in being set free
from the consequence of sin.
Then the absolute truth comes from the Lord to us,
“Forgive - as you have been forgiven”.
We cannot have peace in ourselves, or live in a relationship with our
Father, the Lord Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, if we do not forgive.
We must be willing as a response to what God has forgiven in us.
And we must ask for his help to do it when it’s difficult.
It is also a condition for answered prayer.
If we aren’t prepared to forgive others, through Christ’s blood, we
quite simply cut off the flow of relationship with God.
Ultimately, to be free of un-forgiveness is vital for our peace, our
living as God’s people, and for all areas of relationship.
The people we perceive to have done wrong, or hurt us,
may or may not have recognised it and shown sorrow and repentance.
If they have, a lovely relationship can be restored and can often be
better and stronger than ever.
Perhaps they have not - and we can do nothing about it.
We must still let them go, without resentment and get healed ourselves.
A part of the process will be to learn to forgive
ourselves for things in the past, even when it is still painful to remember
them. They may not be completely
blotted out from our memories, but God can take away the acute pain and panic.
What I’ve shared with you is about our personal
lives. There is another area which
will be familiar to clergy and elders and to all church leaders. Often
sin and selfishness and strong-will in a person will disrupt the life of a local
church or charitable organisation or a para-church group.
We have the same responsibility to cut them loose from our resentment and
sorrow at the harm caused. Often
they will not see it, and will refuse to be disciplined.
But because we are perhaps leaders with responsibility, shepherds of the
flock, we will not be happy to let the same people cause havoc in another flock
when they leave us. We do
sometimes have a responsibility to warn other leaders of what may happen.
Then they must deal with anything that arises with the knowledge of the
past. This is not
un-forgiveness, but wisdom.