Ephesians 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
Some years ago, what another MADist pointed out to me in light of the above passage; forever and completely changed my paradigm about the above issue.
As with all Pauline Truth, the above is his building on operative principles the Apostle Paul has long since laid out.
An issue that forms the very core of all that Paul both preached and wrote about.
The issue of how that "God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" Romans 5:8.
In other words, how that when we least deserved any forgiveness from God; He not only forgave in His Son...
But COMPLETELY!
2 Corinthians 5:19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
Colossians 2:13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
It is on this basis that the Believer can have this same ability to forgive where another least deserves it.
And...when the Believer feels anything but...forgiving...
How?
Simply by DECIDING to forgive another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
The way this works is much like how getting out of bed in the morining works.
We DECIDE TO "with the MIND" to go AGAINST our FEELINGS (produced in "our mortal BODY") exercise our WILL and get up!
Romans 4:19 And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb:
Romans 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Romans 6:12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
1 Corinthians 9:27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
What's the use in believing in, and or preaching victory in the power of the Lord's resurrection, only to find ourselves the victims of our own shipwreck - castaways from the very victory that is actually ours also...
Romans 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Good question!
Answer...
Romans 7:25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
Case in point...some years back, a sibling of mine did something that really set me off.
I mean I was boiling mad, lol
Though livide, I DECIDED TO think on the above.
I'm really peeved' I said to myself.
'What so and so did was VERY wrong...'
'But does this not then become an opportunity to live by that verse?'
'I mean, I can choose to obey that passage, and by that, access by faith - against my emotions - this grace where in I stand in the Lord - not only absolutely, totally, completely, and forever forgiven of all my trespasses in Him, but I can focus on the fact of that towards its' built in victory...'
'I can choose to forgive to HIS glory, just as the Father chose to forgive me the very moment I trusted in His Son's sacrifice...'
'When I least deserved it...'
Next thing I knew, I had renewed my mind through His Word, and my bitterness and wrath had vanished.
I then proceeded to try solve that injustice.
And get this - having determined beforehand to forgive my sibling even to the extent of forgiving their possible rejection of my newly returned freedom.
Talk about the Grace's built in means to solutions to problems even before there are problems...
That Cross...
Man o man...o man the power of that Cross!
If the above does not get YOU to a revival within your own being, also...
Well, I forgive you...
But man o man are you missing out on God's COMPLETE Victory IN - HIS - SON!!!
Okay, church is out, lol
Some years ago, what another MADist pointed out to me in light of the above passage; forever and completely changed my paradigm about the above issue.
As with all Pauline Truth, the above is his building on operative principles the Apostle Paul has long since laid out.
An issue that forms the very core of all that Paul both preached and wrote about.
The issue of how that "God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" Romans 5:8.
In other words, how that when we least deserved any forgiveness from God; He not only forgave in His Son...
But COMPLETELY!
2 Corinthians 5:19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
Colossians 2:13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
It is on this basis that the Believer can have this same ability to forgive where another least deserves it.
And...when the Believer feels anything but...forgiving...
How?
Simply by DECIDING to forgive another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
The way this works is much like how getting out of bed in the morining works.
We DECIDE TO "with the MIND" to go AGAINST our FEELINGS (produced in "our mortal BODY") exercise our WILL and get up!
Romans 4:19 And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb:
Romans 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Romans 6:12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
1 Corinthians 9:27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
What's the use in believing in, and or preaching victory in the power of the Lord's resurrection, only to find ourselves the victims of our own shipwreck - castaways from the very victory that is actually ours also...
Romans 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Good question!
Answer...
Romans 7:25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
Case in point...some years back, a sibling of mine did something that really set me off.
I mean I was boiling mad, lol
Though livide, I DECIDED TO think on the above.
I'm really peeved' I said to myself.
'What so and so did was VERY wrong...'
'But does this not then become an opportunity to live by that verse?'
'I mean, I can choose to obey that passage, and by that, access by faith - against my emotions - this grace where in I stand in the Lord - not only absolutely, totally, completely, and forever forgiven of all my trespasses in Him, but I can focus on the fact of that towards its' built in victory...'
'I can choose to forgive to HIS glory, just as the Father chose to forgive me the very moment I trusted in His Son's sacrifice...'
'When I least deserved it...'
Next thing I knew, I had renewed my mind through His Word, and my bitterness and wrath had vanished.
I then proceeded to try solve that injustice.
And get this - having determined beforehand to forgive my sibling even to the extent of forgiving their possible rejection of my newly returned freedom.
Talk about the Grace's built in means to solutions to problems even before there are problems...
That Cross...
Man o man...o man the power of that Cross!
If the above does not get YOU to a revival within your own being, also...
Well, I forgive you...
But man o man are you missing out on God's COMPLETE Victory IN - HIS - SON!!!
Okay, church is out, lol