The Madness of Unforgiveness: Forgive Your Enemies
by David Chadwick
You might be thinking after reading this title, “Wait a second, David. You mean Jesus’s teaching on forgiveness applies even to my enemies?”
Yes!
Now, take a moment and read Matthew 5:43-48.
Jesus clearly taught his disciples to forgive their enemies. And he wants us to do the same! He knew that the natural instinct when people get hurt would be to retaliate with a bit more venom toward the offender.
Retaliation always calls for just a bit more intensity, which makes the offended person’s retaliation a little bit worse. And then the offender would feel even more anger. And on and on the cycle goes.
Jesus wants us to learn how to break this cycle. To nip it in the bud. To not allow our anger to escalate. But how do we do this? Forgive!
Forgiveness breaks the back of our offenders. Yes, even our enemies. You may think, “But David, I can’t do this! This one is too hard.”
I understand your pain and can actually relate as I too have had a hard time forgiving my enemies. But do you remember Romans 5 that we discussed yesterday? While we were still God’s enemies, he came and died for us. Pause again and think about that! We were God’s ENEMIES! And yet he still offered us his forgiveness and grace.
Let me state clearly here that this is not something we can do in our own strength. It’s not natural. You can’t muster up forgiveness toward an enemy without Jesus. Our natural inclination is to get even. To take revenge. To retaliate. But when we receive Jesus’s love, it’s a supernatural love. Where we can’t, Jesus can! Because of Jesus, we can love our enemies by his love that is in us and flowing through us. Jesus’s supernatural love is what allowed him to forgive us as his enemies. And that same love can give us the ability to forgive our enemies too!
This is why the world desperately needs Jesus. His love, grace, mercy, and kindness can change even the hardest of hearts. Jesus wants to conform all of us to his image (Romans 8:29), from the inside out. That way, we can live as he lived. And love as he loved.
Yes, even when it’s our enemies. As he forgave us when we were his enemies.