By Lee Roy Anderson
He that covereth a transgression seeketh love but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends. Proverbs 17:9 True forgiveness only occurs when we treat the subject as a closed matter. If we bring up old hurts whenever feelings fly we have never really forgiven. To hold a grudge is to build a wall between yourself and another person. Forgiveness breaks down walls. Christ came to break down walls and lead people to reconciliation. Before true healing can occur though we must let loose all old hurts and start fresh. Forgiveness gives us the clean start we need to heal all wounds. With God’s help we can grow closer than ever before. Peter came to Jesus and said, Lord, how oft shall a brother sin against me and I forgive him? Till seven times? Jesus said unto him, I say unto thee seven times, but until seventy times. That is 490 times.
Review Matthew 18:23-25. When ye stand and pray to forgive if ye have aught against any that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses. Mark 11:25-26. If a man say “I love God”, and hateth his brother, he is a liar for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? 1St John 4:20.
The wise person learns that there is nothing to be gained by sin. With sin comes punishment and it is better to avoid sin altogether than to try to find some way out of the result. Some people never learn. They do the same things again and again and cannot see the folly of their ways. When we sin it is vital that we turn from sin rather than head right back into it. Romans 6:1-2 says “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer there in. It is hard to understand why people have to be so unkind. We can try everything we know to be nice and still there are some who will not respond in kind. Those people are to be pitied for they will never know happiness or peace. There is something that causes them to be terribly unhappy and they vent their sadness on those around them. Remember, Christ enables us to return good for good and even good for evil. He never likes to see us return evil for good. Happy and content is the person who spreads happiness but sad will be the person who spreads evil, for wrong done will never be escaped.