Holy Uprising - Thur Mar 18

Repentance and Forgiving Others


"Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in himOr it

"> to make him stumble." 1 John 2:9-10


When I was a young girl I grew up in a church where you would reach an age of accountability, requiring you to receive the sacrament of confession, or penance.
What this meant was you became aware that you were a sinner, saved by grace, and must confess your sins to a priest, who then would offer you a penance, requiring absolution of your sins. I struggled as a child at age twelve, wondering what sins that I needed to confess. I often would prefabricate just in order to go through the requirements. So, long ago. And now as a grown woman…I do not have to think up sins, I sin daily, and know that I am a sinner, saved by grace, and as a priest before Christ, I am forgiven.

In reflecting on forgiveness, the theologian John Koenig defines forgiveness this way: “Forgiveness turns out not to be a work or a pronouncement but a discovery that grows out of our realization that we and the people from whom we are estranged are not very different after all.”

Forgiveness begins with an awareness of our shared humanity, recognition of the tremendous capacity that we have to both destroy and bless one another. The apostle Paul understood the complexity of our human nature—how we struggle to make the right choices, and how we sometimes do the very thing we despise: “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.”
If we acknowledge the potential that we have for harming others, then we can have more compassion for those who hurt us.

As we read John's word's in Matthew 3: “I indeed baptize you with water…but He…will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
Oswald Chambers explains, “Repentance does not cause a sense of sin—it causes a sense of inexpressible unworthiness. When I repent, I realize that I am absolutely helpless, and I know that through and through I am not worthy even to carry His sandals.

A great question Chambers asks: Have I repented like that, or do I have a lingering thought of possible trying to defend my actions? The reason God cannot come into my life is that I am not at the point of complete repentance.

Conviction and Forgiveness: James 5:16 says, “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”
Frances J. Roberts explains this passage in scripture as such, “Man cannot forgive sin…Confess your faults one to another, and pray for one another that you may be perfected. I do not love you because you are sinless, but I am able to receive you into my fellowship and bring you close to my heart on the merits of the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here rests your hope of cleansing and acceptance. Here is the only door of access between sinful man and a holy God. But here indeed is all you need.”








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