Posted by Doug Showalter on September 14, 1998 at 16:33:52:
In Reply to: God and forgiveness posted by S.G.F. on September 14, 1998 at 10:44:45:
Dear S.G.F.,
I hope this is helpful. Here is how I see it.
First of all, I really believe what I John 4:7,8 says in the New Testament, that "God is love." I don't believe in a punitive God whom we have to coax to love us, or whose love we have to earn.
To me, God is more loving and more forgiving than the most loving and forgiving person that I could ever imagine. Doesn't Jesus imply this in Matthew 7:9-12, where he says (vs.11) "If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"?
The fact is, that I have known some very loving and forgiving people in my life [though, admittedly, such people may be rare]. These individuals set a marvelous example for me and for others. But as special as these people are, I still believe that our God is much more loving and more forgiving than even they are.
To me, it is in God's nature to be loving and forgiving. These precious divine qualities are like an everflowing fountain which never stops. And that fountain is always there with its life-giving water for us to drink from.
But here's the catch. Many of us do not or cannot drink from that fountain. God's love and forgiveness are always there for us in that cool and thirst-quenching spray of water. However, we are unable to benefit from that fountain, if we do not approach it in a way which allows us to receive its bubbling essence into ourselves.
There are two basic things which we must have, in order to be able to drink from that ever flowing fountain:
1.) We must approach it with a repentant heart. We must be sincerely repentant, recognizing: the depth of our sin, the pain our sin has caused others and ourselves, and how short we have fallen of God's glory.
2.) We must approach it with a forgiving heart. We must have a realistic sense of our own personal shortcomings and of how much God has already forgiven us. And we must also have the desire in our hearts to forgive those who have injured us.
Hearts that are unrepentant and/or unforgiving are hard hearts. They are often prideful and resentful hearts. They are not sensitive or loving hearts. They are closed hearts.
During his earthly ministry, Jesus had a great deal of difficulty with people whose hearts were hardened and closed. The fact is, Jesus was able to do very little with or for such people. For example, Jesus' own townspeople, the people of Nazareth, were so hard hearted and closed to the possibility that Jesus might be the long-awaited Messiah, that they nearly stoned Jesus to death. Also, as Jesus said, he simply was unable to do any miracle in that place [Mark 6:5].
I believe a similar thing happens to us in this life, if our hearts become unrepentant and/or unforgiving. With such hardness and closedness, God can't do much with us or for us. Even if we took off our hats and stood in God's everflowing fountain, those life-giving waters of love and forgiveness would still not be able to penetrate our hearts, or give our souls the benefit and refreshment which God wants to give us.
In essence, the problem is not of God's making. God is not witholding forgiveness from us. Rather, we are the ones who are failing to appropriate that forgiveness.
As Jesus said, God causes the refreshing rain to fall on both the good and the bad. But [as applied to this context], it is only the people who are repentant and seeking to forgive, who will have the buckets without holes, with which to catch this free gift of grace which God is pouring out for all.
Yes, I believe our repentance and our forgiving of others are very important to receiving God's forgiveness. But the problem is not God, or our having to earn God's favor in some way. Rather, the problem is entirely within ourselves, within our own hearts. For it is ALWAYS God's will to love and forgive each one of us!
This is what I believe.
Doug Showalter