Tag: forgiveness

The Essence of Forgiveness

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Forgiveness is widely recognized as one of the highest expressions of moral character. Many people, particularly those with strong religious convictions, regard the act of forgiving others as not only virtuous but also spiritually meaningful. They believe that showing forgiveness to someone who has caused harm brings about a favorable response from God, helping them maintain their spiritual well-being and moral integrity.

However, genuine forgiveness does not alter God’s behavior. Instead, it liberates us, allowing us to align with the expansive activity of God. Emilie Cady observed that difficulties in life may stem from an inability to forgive. By continually dwelling on the negative actions of others, we may unintentionally hinder our own progress.

Why does this happen? If God’s nature is defined by creative expansion, then holding onto resentment restricts our own creative thinking. Our mental and emotional resources become channeled into a narrow focus, acting like an invisible burden that weighs us down and limits our potential.

It is important to recognize that the actions of others have less influence on our quality of life than our own reactions to what they say or do. Forgiveness is essentially the process of reframing these reactions. For example, when Joseph reunited with his brothers who had sold him into slavery, he acknowledged that they intended harm, but he chose to believe God meant it for good. By reframing their actions, Joseph created an opportunity to release himself from the destructive reaction of resentment.

What Joseph’s brothers did was wrong and he had every right to be angry at them. This resentment, however, may have prevented him from rising to his present position of power, second only to Egypt’s Pharaoh, according to the story. Throughout all his many trials, Joseph maintained his creative agility, turning each worse-case scenario into opportunities for advancement.

If you find yourself holding resentment for the past actions of another, do not seek to condone or condemn them. Seek, rather, the higher ground of release. Affirm that greater good is now unfolding through you and through all concerned. Even if they meant it for evil, God means it for good. Hold to this truth and free yourself from the bonds of resentment.

Breaking the Sin Connection

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The Jews of Jesus’ day saw a strong connection between disease and sin. The best example of this belief is when a young man, blind from birth, was brought to Jesus with the question, Who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind? We notice they did not inquire about his belief regarding the connection of the boy’s condition to sin. They made the assumption, and they wanted Jesus to name the guilty party. Jesus, of course, dismissed their question and took steps to bring about the healing.

On several occasions, before he spoke a healing statement, Jesus would tell the person that their sins were forgiven. I do not believe he was asserting special power over sin. He was breaking the sin connection, erasing the lifelong belief that their problem resulted from an offense against God.

I have pointed out that much of what we consider sin, our legal system would call a process crime, a crime, not against a person, but against the legal system itself. None of the so-called seven deadly sins—pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth—are actually illegal. They are considered sins against God, but they are really only sins against the religious system. Jesus made clear in his prodigal son parable that the Father does not take into account the sins of his son.

Jesus was a spiritual educator. His conscious connection with God gave him direct insight into what was true of God. When he said, for example, that you are judged by how you judge, he was saying that if you believe you sinned against God, then the first malady that pops up will prove you correct. If you live as if your sins are forgiven, or, better still, not even acknowledged by God, then you will relieve yourself of the associated anxiety.

It is good for each of us to see if we have some kind of sin connection going on. Do we associate negative conditions with negative thoughts or other shortcomings on our part? If so, let’s make sure we get God out of that formula. God is that consistent one presence and one power that we call upon to restore order where chaos may have erupted. Nothing we say our do changes God’s changeless behavior. In other words, our sins are forgiven.