Today is the full day of Yom Kippur, our Day of Atonement. This is traditionally the day when we all pray for God to move from his Throne of Judgement to his Throne of Mercy, and to forgive us for the sins we have committed during the past year.
Part of this is to have been reviewing during these past Ten Days of Awe how far we have fallen short of what God wants us to be and do for others.
But those of us who know the teachings of Yeshua know that he also told us that if we do not forgive those who have sinned against us, then we will not be forgiven in heaven (Matthew 6:14), and that the way we judge others, as well as the way we treat others, is going to be used to judge and treat us (Matthew 7:1-2).
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Yom Kippur is all about forgiveness, and I think that we should talk about forgiveness, but not about God forgiving us because we know he really, really wants to (Ezekiel 18:23).
I want to make this Yom Kippur message not about God forgiving us, but about us forgiving others.
Feeling guilt about something you have done is the first step to repentance, and repentance is necessary if you ever want to be forgiven by God. But what about when someone has done such harm to you and is not at all repentant, and you know that you cannot forgive them? You may even think they do not deserve forgiveness.
Well, that is an understandable feeling, but it is not going to get you anywhere.
When you forgive someone, it does two things that will never happen without that forgiveness: for one, it is the only way the hurt will ever go away; and two, it won’t make that person right with God but it will make YOU right with God.
If someone refuses to forgive those who have sinned against them, they are acting as if they are better than God. I know they may be telling themselves that they aren’t God, they aren’t holy enough to forgive someone, but the truth is that if they refuse to even try to forgive, knowing that God is always willing to forgive, then what they are really saying is that they are above God.
It is saying, “God can forgive if he wants to, but I am not going to! Yeah, God may have to do it, but not me! I don’t have to!”
How would you describe that attitude?
Another thing to consider when you are having trouble forgiving someone is that Yeshua underwent terrible torture and a slow, painful death just so that you, and everyone else, has the opportunity to receive forgiveness of sin. And he was not happy about it, but he did it because he knew it was what God wanted. Even when he prayed for the cup to pass him by, he said let God’s will be done, not his own (Matthew 26:39).
Now, you and I are not Messiahs, but if we do not show the same willingness to overcome our personal feelings to forgive others, then we are dishonoring his sacrifice.
Not that I am suggesting we get nailed to a tree, but we should honor Yeshua’s sacrifice by being willing to forgive those who have sinned against us, whether or not they care or repent or even know what they did.
That is the kind of forgiveness that makes us right with God, and helps us get over the pain.
I also believe that forgiving someone doesn’t mean that you no longer feel you were treated unfairly or given a raw deal, but what it does (and I say this from personal experience) is to allow you to review what happened without feeling that pain and anger anymore.
I have found that when it is really hard to forgive someone, and believe me I have been there, I think of what will happen to that person when they have to face God. I picture them facing God at Judgement Day and know that all the excuses and alibis they have used to cover themselves their entire life will fall off of them, leaving them with a body of raw skin and it will feel like they are being dipped in a pool of lemon juice as God retells all the horrible things they have done.
When I do that, how can anyone who has known the love of God feel anything but pity for that person? And I, for one, have known the love of God, which (along with that little fantasy of mine) makes it easier for me to forgive those who have done horrible things to me.
I still wouldn’t invite them to my birthday party and I still feel unfairly treated, but I have forgiven them and that has taken the pain away.
Okay, yeah, I do still feel a little frustrated that they didn’t get any come-uppance, but hey! I’m still a work in progress.
You may be asking if God is so willing to forgive, why does he punish anyone? And even if that person repents, he still receives punishment, such as David repented for his sin with Bat Sheba, but the child that came from that sin was killed (2 Samuel 12).
The answer is that God keeps his word, and he has said that those who sin are guilty and the guilty will be punished. Look at it this way: if we can’t trust God to punish those who sin, then we can’t trust him to reward those who act righteously.
The thing is that God is an eternal being, and he sees things on an eternal plane while we are only able to exist and understand on a mortal plane. What that means is when God forgives us, he is talking about our eternal existence. The sin we commit on the earth must be punished because sin always has consequences, and sadly too many times the innocents we love become collateral damage of that sin.
God forgives our sin with regard to our eternal life, but while alive on the earth we will be punished for our misdeeds.
I know this has been a long message, but what else do you have to do today?
Let’s leave it with this: today is a day when we ask God to forgive us, but in order for that to happen, we must be more than repentant- we must also forgive those who have sinned against us. Yeshua said to leave our gift at the altar and first go ask forgiveness from those we have sinned against (Matthew 5:23–24), so today I suggest that before you continue to ask God to forgive you, you think of all those who you feel have sinned against you and forgive them before you continue to ask God to forgive you.
That’s gonna be it for today’s message; it’s back to prayer and fasting for me because worshiping the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob means I do as God said to do, which is what Yeshua did.
Be blessed and may you have an easy fast.