Forgiveness is perhaps one of the most difficult things that Jesus Christ requires of us Christian if we want to be honest. Especially when we are in the right and we have been majorly wronged by someone else. It is also equally hard when the person either intentionally or unintentionally refuses to acknowledge their wrongs or continues to partake in that which they hurt us in. Does this sound familiar at least in the way we Christians treat God? We often continue to do what he commanded us, not suggested, but commanded us not to do. Then we oftentimes go back to ask forgiveness without truly repenting in our hearts. True repentance in the heart implies completely turning away from what we have been doing that God commanded us not to do. It requires us to do a 180 to bring us back in obedience and alignment with God and completely stop committing that particular sin.
It is also interesting to emphasize that the law of sowing and reaping is fully applicable to the concept of forgiveness. What do I mean? To get forgiveness in life and from God, we need to ourselves sow the seed of forgiveness first based on the law of seedtime and harvest:
“While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night Shall not cease” (Genesis 8:22, NKJV)
For Christians in particular, this implies that God will not forgive us our sins unless we forgive others. While saying the only prayer Jesus ever taught us when asked by his disciples to teach them how to pray, we further confirm this point when we say:
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. (Matthew 6:12, KJV)
Forgiveness is a seed that needs to be sown into the life of others in order to receive the same of God. We can only reap what we sow after all at least in this earthly realm. Doing so I personally think also make us feel how God himself feels when we trample on his commandments and do whatever we please that displeases him or that he hates. As outlined in the popular prayer of Our Father Who Art in Heaven mentioned earlier, if God does not forgive us our debts because we refuse to do the same to others the stakes are even higher. Because in this case hellfire where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, and where the fire never goes out rather than heaven will then be the eternal destination of any given Christian. However, that is the eternal consequence of unforgiveness. There are other dire consequences of unforgiveness that will adversely impact one’s life in the immediate while one is still living on this earth before landing in the eternal torment of hellfire.
Negative Consequences of Unforgiveness In This Life on Earth Before Death
The consequences of unforgiveness here on earth while one is still alive are as significant and quite detrimental minus the level of eternal torment of hell and the overall environment of hell itself where no hope or life exist like they do on earth:
a). One’s prayers and fasting will, NOT can, will be hindered.
This passage illustrates the power of unforgiveness as it pertains to the ability of our prayers and fasting to be answered by God. The same passage appears in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, but the gospel of Mark added this nice addition that drives to the point:
So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. 23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore, I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.” (Mark 11:23 – 26, NKJV)
It is no mistake that Jesus added those last 2 verses right at the end of his instructions regarding what needs to be in place for our prayers to be answered. The instructions shows that in reality, what we need at the beginning of our walk with Christ is just a little faith to start the journey as tiny as the seed of mustard that we plant in our hearts. The secret of a mustard seed is that the seed itself is one of the tiniest that exists however after planted, it grows into one of the largest trees as described in the parable of the mustard seed in Matthew 13:31-32. Similarly, as we put our faith in God by sowing that tiny seed of faith into our hearts and water it over time as any seeds need watering, that faith will eventually grow like a mustard tree and nothing shall be impossible to us! I personally believe and will even say that how big we let our mustard like faith seed grow in your hearts will compare to how much power Jesus Christ can manifest through us. Remember we are just vessels of his.
However after Jesus gave us instruction regarding faith and belief when we are making our petition known to God; He also instructed us that while we are still in the middle of praying and making that petition, if there is anyone who has done us wrong, we need to forgive them on the spot. This I believe shows that the Holy Ghost himself will prompt our hearts when there is unforgiveness and bring the person we need to forgive to our remembrance. The last 2 verses regarding forgiveness started with the coordinating conjunction “and” to connect them to the first set of instructions for us to understand that they go hand in hand. Unforgiveness then has the power of hindering our prayers and fasting from being answered.
Jesus further illustrated the power of unforgiveness whenever we have a sacrifice, we are offering God.
b). God will reject our sacrifices or gifts because of unforgiveness.
Just as our prayers and fasting can go answered due to unforgiveness in our hearts, other ways we choose to obtain God’s favor upon a request can also be impacted such as making an offering or sacrifice to God. There are actually several instances and many reasons in the Bible where God rejected sacrifices however the reason being explored within the context of this article has to do with the sin of unforgiveness:
But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. (Matthew 5: 22 – 24, ESV)
Unforgiveness within the context of sacrifice is so powerful that Jesus literally instructed us that when we are out to bring our gifts or sacrifices to God and there is any seed of unforgiveness in our hearts, to not bother making the offering. He wants us to set apart the offering or sacrifice and return to find our brother/sister and forgive them and reconcile. Only then can we return to make that offering which will at that time be accepted by God.
c). If you do not forgive God himself, NOT satan, will deliver you to the tormentor.
In the parable of the unfaithful servant in the book of Matthew 18: 23-32, Jesus explained to us how the Kingdom of Heaven deals with servants who refuse to forgive other servants though they themselves were forgiven their debts by the King. The parable goes as followed:
Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.
“But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ So his fellow servant fell down [a]at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you [b]all.’ And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. (Matthew 18: 23 – 32, NKJV)
This parable could not be any clearer. God forgives us but he expects us to do the same with one another if not our forgiveness can and will be revoked. And as we can see from the Bible verse above, not only God called the servant who refused to forgive his fellow servant a wicked servant, but he also went as far as delivering him into the hands of the torturers to torture him until he pays all that he owed him initially. Now From our previous articles on this blog that you may have read, you know how much we emphasize the spiritual world as the spiritual is what manifest in the physical not the other way around. As a result, our focus would always be on the spiritual first. In the same line of though when pondering those “spiritual tormentors” the wicked servant was delivered to, they can manifest servals ways in this physical realm I believe. They can manifest as infirmities or in the form of anything that can torment us mentally, physically, financially, spiritually and any other way in any area of our lives whereby we will be robbed of our peace or joy while still on earth. I have heard of a deliverance case where someone was unable to receive deliverance from cancer because they refuse to forgive somebody who did them wrong.
d). We are playing “God” when we refuse to forgive others.
This point is straightforward really. When we receive Jesus Christ, we receive him as the Lord of our lives. Which means Jesus Christ has sovereign authority over every single area of our lives and the decisions we make. If Jesus Christ commanded us, not suggested, to forgive others and we do not, he is no longer our Lord. We remove ourselves from under his lordship and become the lord of our own lives deciding what we want to do. We are no longer in his will, neither are we following his commandment. Some will take unforgiveness as far as getting even or back to the person who did them wrong which only shows how much further, we are getting away from Jesus Christ’s Lordship to become our own God.
In summary, forgiveness as we can see is a gift we give ourselves and not to the offender. To wrap this article up in an encouraging tone, there are 2 secrets regarding forgiveness we must keep in mind:
- Though you forgive, God will repay.
God clearly said in the Bible that vengeance was his:
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord (Romans 12:19, KJV)
From personal experience, God always comes true with this promise. This might be comforting to some. God is not disagreeing with the wrong that was done to us by asking us to forgive when someone offends us. No. He just wants our hearts to remain pure and not poisoned by the seed of bitterness, unforgiveness, resentment, wrath, retaliation, hatred, and/or offense. However, God in my experience ALWAYS repays. Always. This is another area where one can see the law of sowing and reaping at work. The person sows a seed and must reap a harvest. Am I saying to wait impatiently just to see the day God repays your offender? No. True forgiveness will move your heart in the long term away all the retaliation, but God will and always will remember and repay. He does not forget the wrong done to us.
The truth is that when it is God who does the retaliation not us taking our own revenge, God’s revenge is so bad that you will yourself feel inclined to start praying to God to let it go at some point and forgive your offender. I have witnessed this several times myself. God is the worst avenger there is.
- How to forgive when it is difficult
The secret I have discovered over the years (I believe the Holy Ghost revealed this to me) is to pray for the person who offended you. A LOT. Yes, I said pray for the person you are struggling to forgive. At first it will be super uncomfortable, but you must keep pushing through. You might not even be doing it at first from your heart, but again, just continue doing it faithfully. You will then discover later, sometimes suddenly or gradually that whatever ill feelings you have in your heart towards the person has or will be disappearing as the Lord will takes them away as you continue praying for them. I later discovered that this approach was prescribed in the bible:
But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; (Matthew 5:44, KJV)
Glory be to the Great I AM the Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit.
Our Lord God is One!
Thank you, Jesus Christ my Lord & Savior!