https://odb.org/2024/10/10/love-beyond-boundaries
A believer husband, in a sudden onset of severe mental illness, took the life of his own 4-year-old daughter. Although the plea of insanity may absolve a person from murder and the possible resulting capital punishment, he will be committed to a mental institution, and the incarceration may last for decades. It is not prison, but he will be living among the mentally ill. Despite such pain, agony, and grief, his believer wife was able to forgive and visit him, and in the process, their love grew despite the heartache. God helped her forgive as much as He commanded us to forgive, for He first forgave us.
Matthew 6:14-15 NIV – For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Mark 11:25 NIV – And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”
There are no conditions or prerequisites to forgiveness. It is not dependent on whether the wrongdoer became repentant or whether he or she sought our forgiveness. The command is to forgive, failing which He will likewise not forgive us our sins. If we keep unforgiveness in our hearts, we will become separated from God again despite the redemptive blood of Christ. Unforgiveness may lead to bitterness and resentment and hate – all characteristics contrary to love. That is why we must forgive, no matter painful reality is, as God is love.
Harsh as it may sound, the Lord will not leave us as we are, most fortunately. For He knows our pain and sorrow. As much as His command is to forgive, He will help us forgive. For nothing is impossible with God (Luke 1:37). That is the key to true, sincere, and genuine forgiveness. Our Lord Jesus Christ will help us. The Holy Spirit will strengthen our resolve and heal us of our pain and sorrow. Our Heavenly Father will encourage and support us to forgive.
We may have experienced betrayals by our loved ones. Some terrible things may have been perpetrated against us. We may have lost much in the past due to some evil plot affecting us for certain people’s convenience or progression. Do not look back, but look ahead towards our Lord Jesus Christ, to the things He has planned and prepared for us. Forgive and move on. Grief and shed our tears, but forgive. Don’t allow our past to become a yoke that weighs us down in our spiritual endeavours. Take up Jesus’s yoke, for His yoke is easy, and His burden is light. He is gentle and humble. See Matthew 11:28-30.
Ronnie's Thoughts 