Col 3:13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. KJV

Greetings in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who has blessed us to sit in heavenly places in Him. It is my prayer and heart's desire that you and your family are doing well and that the blessings of the Lord are manifest in your lives.

Our ministry theme for the month of July is Forgiveness. Forgiveness is defined as the act of excusing or pardoning another in spite of his slights, shortcomings, and errors. As a theological term, forgiveness refers to God's pardon of the sins of human beings.

Out of the many things that God has provided for humanity, forgiveness is one of the greatest. In fact when God forgave us he met our greatest need. Chuck Swindoll in "The Grace Awakening" wrote this "If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator. If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist. If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist. If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer. But our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a Savior!

God's brand of forgiveness is far superior than ours. When God forgives He forgets. In Isa 43:25 God says "I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins." In Micah 7:19 it reads "He will turn again, He will have compassion upon us; He will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea." Someone says that when God forgives He throws our sins into the sea of forgetfulness and puts up a sign that says "No Fishing!"

Another verse of scripture that highlights how God dismisses our trespasses is found in Psalms 103:12 "As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us." Do you understand how far that is? Let me just give you a hint. If you were to travel north from anywhere, at what point would you begin going south? At the north pole. But if you were traveling east from anywhere, at what point would you being going west? You could go east forever and never be going west. That's how far God removes our sins from us when they are forgiven.

However when we forgive, we often struggle with removing, throwing away or forgetting the trespass or transgression against us. We talk about forgiveness, sing about forgiveness, teach and preach about it, but our noise about forgiveness becomes mute when we are called to forgive. C.S. Lewis put it this way "Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive."

Though we may not have the capacity to forget, remove and throw away trespasses like God, we must strive to do it with all sincerity. Clara Barton, the founder of the Red Cross, was never known to hold resentment against anyone. One time a friend recalled to her an especially cruel thing that had happened to her some years previously, but Clara seemed not to remember the incident. "Don't you remember the wrong that was done to you?" the friend asked Clara. She answered calmly, "No, I distinctly remember forgetting that."  Like Miss Barton, we must distinctly remember to forget!

Though the act of forgiving requires effort and depending on the severity of the transgression can be most difficult, there are some good reasons for you to forgive.  First of all, Forgiveness provides Freedom.  When we refuse to forgive someone for something they have done to us, we become bound and enslaved by the situation in question.  It will negatively impact your focus, your productivity, your rest and even your health.  Every time the person who has trespassed against you comes into your presence or into your thoughts you feel bound, restricted and uneasy.  However, when we forgive we begin ....CLICK TO READ MORE.