For if you forgive others their trespasses your Heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Matthew 6:14-15
As I continue my thoughts on the need to forgive, I would like to highlight this scripture passage, dealing with a “paraptoma,” a trespass. What actually constitutes this trespass?
Strongs Expository Dictionary on trespass ~
paraptoma (παράπτωμα, 3900), primarily “a false step, a blunder” (para, “aside,” pipto, “to fall”), then “a lapse from uprightness, a sin, a moral trespass, misdeed,” is translated “fall” in Rom. 11:11–12, of the sin and “downfall” of Israel in their refusal to acknowledge God’s claims and His Christ; by reason of this the offer of salvation was made to Gentiles; cf. ptaio, “to stumble,” in v. 11. See fault, offense, sin, trespass.
Our expectations can be a slippery slope. We must be able to divide our expectations righteously. What we require of others may not be what God requires of them. We must always bring events back to the word of God and examine them in light of the word and by His Spirit.
From the definition above, there are two steps involved. First, a false step, a blunder THEN, a lapse from uprightness, a sin, a moral trespass. Our English definition of trespass reads - to commit an offense against a person or a set of rules.
While we can determine the effects of someone’s actions, we do not have the ability to judge the intent of one’s heart. That’s God’s business, not ours. When we are met with the statement, “that was not my intention,” our job is to believe the best. Love will believe the best, and it will cover a multitude of sins.
I guess my real concern is the place where Christianity meets the psychology of a self-care philosophy and ends up developing a new doctrine validating and strengthening our will instead of His will and His standard. Jesus set the standard for his disciples with “take up your cross and follow me.”
God’s better and higher way, if we choose, is to come to the throne of grace. We are invited to abide with The Shepherd and overseer of our souls until our hearts are adjusted. Peace flows as we commit to the one who judges righteously, and we leave empowered. Victory is won and sustained at the throne of Grace.
‘Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be known unto God and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.’’ Philippians 4: 6-7
Matthew 5:21-26; Matthew 6:12; Matthew 18:15-20; these scriptures set the largest teaching from Jesus on the subject of forgiveness, and yet I seldom see this fully practiced. Most of the counseling we have done in our nearly 45 years of pastoral work dealt with people’s relational offenses and their unwillingness to follow the instructions Jesus gave.
Paul, in his letter to the church at Corinth, warns against the body being devoured through strife and contention. There is a spirit of offense continually working to sow division. I’ve never seen an individual leave offended who first did not deposit their offense into another, and so the cycle continues. Jesus’ instructions about the works of Satan sowing division into the Kingdom is highlighted by the reality that a divided Kingdom cannot stand, Matthew 12:25.
You’ve probably heard this idiom, ‘We are only as strong as our weakest link,’ meaning our enemy looks for weaknesses to work in. We, His church, must, must, must hold one another accountable to these scriptural precedents for the health and well-being of His body, and it must begin with us, individually. Committed to upholding his standards, in that spirit of meekness and humility, we work at maintaining the unity of the body.
Jesus reminds us how much we have been forgiven that we did not earn with the admonition that since we have freely received, we are to freely give. While we’ve all had lessons in boundaries, I’m not sure the boundaries we’ve allowed ourselves to set have always generated the unity our Father is looking for. We tell ourselves we hold no ought, but when we come face to face with the individual, our heart reveals what it truly holds.
As much as lies within us, we must be at peace with all men. Jesus, accused, betrayed, rejected, and killed by the people he came to deliver, never withdrew his love or purpose from or for them. There is a tangible and powerful love that is birthed in us by His Holy Spirit that does enable us in our weakness. As a child of God, a disciple of our Lord Jesus, It is never that I can’t forgive; it is that I won’t.