Walking in Love: Love Forgives
Ephesians 5:2, “Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.”
Holy Spirit instructs us to walk in love as Christ did. Christ is our example and He walked in love when the odds were against Him. In Romans 5:5, we see the Love of God shed in our hearts. This truth informs us that we have the capacity to love like God. We also know that we are born of God, who is love, which means we are born of love, hence we are love. Walking in love for us should not be an intimidating thing but a formality. But why can’t we walk in love? Why can’t we love others like God does? I believe one of the reasons why we struggle to walk in love is because of our unforgiveness.
Unforgiveness is a double-sided sword, it cuts both you and the other person. Unforgiveness is a cancer that kills you from the inside without realizing. I want to share three reasons that make it so hard to forgive. The first reason is we want revenge. In Romans 12:19, the Lord says that vengeance is His, but we want vengeance to be ours. We want to be the judges, jury, and executioners. We want that person to pay for what they did to us. Unforgiveness can act as strong drive. In Matthew5:38-42, Jesus is telling us forgive those who offend us.
Matthew 5:38-42, “38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. 40 If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. 41 And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. 42 Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.”
The second reason we do not forgive is we are sometimes defined by the wrongdoing. This happens when our identity is found in us being the victim. This happens overtime when we look at yourself in the mirror and we see how we felt when the incident happened. We slowly and slowly accept that, that is who we are. This is a victim mentality. This comes out in two ways. We can either be scared or terrified and you become very fearful of everything; or we can sometimes be too strong and vow to never be weak or vulnerable again.
Both reactions are a defense mechanism, that soon becomes your identity. It will be careless of me to just come and tell you just forgive that person and move on. I know and understand it is harder than that. What I will tell you though is you need to start focusing on Jesus instead of your hurt. He will help you learn how to forgive. He will help you get your true identity.
Matthew 11:28-30, “28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Carrying unforgiveness is heavy and tiresome, we sometimes just need the rest that only He can provide. We must trust Him with that hurt and know that He will be very gentle with us. The verse below highlights His gentleness.
Isaiah 42:3, “He will not crush the weakest reed or putout a flickering candle. He will bring justice to all who have been wronged.
The third reason we do not forgive is we carry guilt and shame. This is a tough one because most of the time, we are the victim, and we are embarrassed of what happened. That person stole our innocence, or that person stole our joy, or that person stole our beautiful outlook in life. Now we are in darkness, are hopeless, and just want to give up on life. And by all accounts we have every right to be angry at that person. We have every right to never forgive that person. But love forgives; love keeps no record of wrongs (1 Corinthians 13:5).Our response to is always you don’t understand, you don’t know what they did tome. I was young and innocent, I was just enjoying my life, and they destroyed all that. How can I forgive them? Because you are born of love! Look at how love behaves:
Luke 23:32-34, “32 There were also two others, criminals, led with Him to be put to death. 33 And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left. 34ThenJesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”
Most of us will say that is Jesus, He can do that. He is God. In Acts 7, we see Stephen a mere man forgive others when he had every right not to forgive.
Acts 7:59-60, “59 And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.”
Love forgives ladies and gentlemen; we cannot walk in forgiveness if we do not understand that we are love. The love of God has been shed abroad our hearts. We have the capacity to love like God does. God has equipped us to love others and to forgive others. That’s why He can tell us to forgive one another because He knows we can. The voices and thoughts in our heads that are telling us to not forgive are coming from our flesh or the devil. The devil does not want us walking in forgiveness because he knows he will lose his power over us.
Unforgiveness is one of the devil’s biggest weapons. Unforgiveness is a door for the devil into our lives. The devil knows he cannot go toe to toe with us, he knows we will win because of what Christ did on the cross. What he will do is create back doors into our lives, and one of the biggest doors he uses is unforgiveness. If we want to walk in freedom, peace and enjoy the love of God, we must learn how to forgive. Because love forgives and we are born of love.
