Love: Forgiveness God's Way Is Effortless

"Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long suffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfections." 
-Colossians 3:12-15

In the last post you may have been shocked at the suggestion that saints can forgive continually and effortlessly, no matter the abuse received. Please don't misunderstand. This is not a statement that I or other saints always forgive effortlessly and continually. It is a statement of the greatness of the power of our God, who has poured out His love into our hearts by His Holy Spirit (Romans 5:3). This verse does not say that God gave us more of our love by our strength. Rather, He poured out (not dribbled out) His love, by His Holy Spirit, in our hearts. It is all about Him and His love from His Spirit flowing out of you in all directions at all times. Love is the first fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22) and forgiveness simply flows from a heart filled with love.

So, if God's power is more than sufficient and His Holy Spirit is always in us, why is there such a lack of the fruit of the Spirit among God's elect and beloved children? Unforgiveness, bitterness, self-centeredness, self-protection, impatience, irritation, anger, unkindness, envy, and much more seem all too commonplace among those washed clean in the blood of the Lamb. And why are so many Christians so easily offended? Are not these evidence that continual love and forgiveness are extremely difficult, and maybe even beyond the reach of the average Christian? How can I say (and insistently so) that such should be effortless and indeed are effortless? Here is the first key: it is not about you and your ability, but rather all about Christ and His strength. Do you believe this? The second key is that our gracious God has seen ahead and has already given you everything you need to love and forgive everyone who will ever abuse you in any way (2Peter 1:2-4). Do you believe this? The third key is that Christ loved you first and simply commands you to love His way—as He has already loved you. Do you believe this? Notice the "as" in Colossians 3 above: forgive as Christ has already forgiven you.

How has Christ forgiven you? If you are a Christian, when did Christ pay for your forgiveness? Was it not on the cross of Calvary nearly 2000 years before your first sin? And does not His forgiveness of you mean that you wronged Him and He chose to suffer for you? And was not the Father pleased to bruise His Son on the cross for your sin (Isaiah 53:10)? And if the Son is the exact image of the invisible God, then must not the Son also have been pleased to suffer for your sins? And when did Christ offer you forgiveness? Was it after you realized that you were a sinner? No, it is clear in scripture that you did not seek Him (Romans 3:11); He sought you. Did He decide to forgive you after you confessed your sin? No, rather His forgiveness was waiting for your confession, and even anticipating your first and every sin. Did you catch that? This is an important part of the vision of Christ's forgiveness of you. His forgiveness in full was ready and waiting before your first sin. He continued to wait--maybe many more years—until you confessed yourself a sinner and rested in the work of the cross. All the forgiveness you would ever need was waiting for you to receive it. Do you see the beauty of this precious gift of forgiveness? God in Christ pre-forgave you all your sins.

God's pre-forgiveness of you includes:
*God saw ahead that you would wrong Him.
*God loved you and chose to pay the penalty of your abuse of Him.
*God planned from before the foundation of the world to send His Son to the cross for you.
*God chose to forgive you before you wronged Him.
*God had no hesitation to forgive you.
*God even sought you out to give you that gift.
*God's gift of forgiveness was ready for your need and more than enough for your need.
*God gave you forgiveness; you did not take it; you simply received it.

Love is the source of forgiveness. A heart filled with God's love is full of generosity that anticipates need. Here is a simple illustration of what it should look like in your life (or mine) to forgive all other saints as Christ forgave you. Envision yourself carrying a gift box everywhere you go. This box is filled with love and forgiveness which Christ has bountifully supplied. You eagerly want to give from your box to every needy saint to bless them, remind them of the cross and to glorify God. These saints are so precious to God and the gift so valuable, that you always keep it outstretched toward every saint you might meet. For any saint to mistreat you, he must reach through your box of love and pre-forgiveness. The more he attacks the more gift he receives. Onlookers may wrongly surmise that your abusers are "taking" from your box and even taking advantage of you. But your gift cannot be taken, rather only received. You are free to see their need and not their abuse. And since the Lord continually fills your box, you are glad to be in fellowship with these whom the Lord loves and has gladly forgiven. Some may need (attack) little and others much, and even often. But that is God's business. He did not hesitate with you so you have no need to hesitate with any of His children. It matters little if they confess to you, since you business is loving them to the end as Christ loved you, with patience and hope. Their confession is Christ's business with them. And you never weary of carrying the box, since Christ is your supply, and the box reminds you of Christ's great forgiveness of you.

Are you beginning to get the picture? This simple illustration only scratches the surface of the depths of God's way of love and pre-forgiveness. The Christian life is much more than this, but it is at least this. The more you meditate on Christ's love for you the more your love and forgiveness will flow to all those around you, especially toward those who abuse you. That is after all what you and I did to Christ. If it takes effort or is difficult, then you are "trying" to love or forgive in your own strength. But if you walk in the Spirit, love and forgiveness will flow like a river from your heart. Of course there is pain in betrayal and abuse, but we get to choose if our hearts are hardened or softened by the pounding. Do you want to love and forgive? If you do, I would suggest praying often, at least daily, for God to help you learn to love His way. Thank Him often for giving you everything you need to love all the saints He has placed around you. And expect Him to answer by giving you opportunities to practice love! You may find yourself becoming more sensitive to your lack of love. But don't be discouraged; this is a good sign. The Spirit should make you sensitive to where you are not like Christ. The Father sees you as perfectly accepted in Christ. If you do not want to love and forgive, . . . does your lack of desire bother you?

Heavenly Love Flows From a Vision of Heavenly Love

"Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long suffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfections." 
-Colossians 3:12-15

The cross is the place where God's love triumphed over the powers of evil. The Father, in His pleasure, chose to send Christ to the Cross. Christ "desired us to be with Him where He is" and chose to lay His life down to "purify for Himself His own special people". When you think of the cross, do you see yourself as God sees you? Yes, your sin sent Christ to the cross. Yes, He is the total sacrifice for your sins. But is that all you see yourself as—a sinner saved by grace? The apostles frequently revealed that God's vision of you in Christ is far more glorious than that.

In the above passage, Paul declares through the Spirit, that if you are in Christ, then you are God's elect and therefore holy and dearly loved--not just loved but beloved or dearly loved. The Father loves you just as He loves the Son (John 17:23). Christ is all your holiness and righteousness (1Cor 1:30) and much more. At your "worst" as at your "best", the Father loves and see you this way. It is not about you. It is all about Him—His love, sanctification, and election of you in Christ. Notice in the above passage that God commands, and seems to simply expect, all of us saints to put on these beautiful qualities of kindness, patience, forgiveness, and love in all circumstances with all other saints no matter the mistreatment we receive. This may seem unrealistic to you. And it will, if you are looking at yourself, your past, your circumstances, or your abilities. But if you look at at God's love for you in Christ, you will see that same love toward all other saints around you, and your heart will overflow with His kindness, grace, forgiveness, and love. Such should be natural and effortless on our part. Paul said that he labored with all God's energy that mightily worked in him (Col 1:29). So what is our problem?

You are His beloved. Do you see that the Father's thoughts toward you are always ones of love, forgiveness and grace, no matter how much you fail or are misunderstood, mistreated or abused by other saints? And those saints who mistreat you, do you see that God's thoughts toward them are always ones of love, forgiveness and grace? Do you really see it? Or, have you forgotten? God's love is true and secure for all His children all the time. But we get to choose whether we see ourselves and other saints through eyes of God's love and grace or through eyes of human performance. God does not empower us to love when we choose the latter, but He does when we choose the former. Why do we fail to love? It is very simple, we have forgotten to see His love. Please don't misunderstand. This does not mean that you have stopped believing He loves you. You need to simply "fix your eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of your faith." Then God's love through you, to even the most obnoxious of saints, will be natural and effortless—though not necessarily painless. The effort should all be God's.

If natural and effortless love seems unreasonable to you, I would encourage you to begin thanking the Father often for the riches you already have in Christ. Let this soak in you mind. You may be surprised at how God will slowly change you without your effort. For a testimony of God's faithfulness to work in the life of a weak brother who began to give thanks, download freely and read Thankfulness and Confession at: http://ccmbooks.org/free-literature/

Next time I hope to write on the way to continual and effortless forgiveness, no matter the abuse.

HEAVENLY LOVE IS AN ACT OF FAITH

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."

-Hebrews 11:1

"In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." -1 John 4:10

"But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them." -Luke 6:32

TWO KINDS OF LOVE

There are two kinds of love. Natural human love operates on an earthly level of worthiness and performance. It takes little effort to respond well to a person who respects you and gives to you. But, if that person is cool toward you, despises you, or even abuses you, then much changes, doesn't it? But God's heavenly love is not rooted in worthiness. Thus, the love He fills a man with and expects him to overflow with, has no connection to worthiness either.

WHAT GOD SEES

God declares, and thus sees, every believer as pure, prefect, holy, righteous, dearly loved, free from condemnation, welcomed without hesitation, and with all sins no longer remembered. This is what God sees all the time when He looks at every true believer. This is beautiful. So apparently when God disciplines me, he sees my sin withour remembering it. The implication is that God's disclipine is a restoration of, or growth in, my vision to see what He sees. God also declares, and thus sees, all those outside of Christ as condemned, under His wrath, and awaiting destruction, if they do not flee to Christ. God sees people as either 1) dead in sin or 2) alive in Christ and justified freely by His grace (Rom. 3:24). The cross of Christ is a great hope to move a man from group 1 to group 2. In God's vision, the only thing that matters for believers is, "faith working through love . . . and . . . through love serve one another" (Gal. 5: 6,13).

SOURCE OF HEAVENLY LOVE

True faith is a resting in the work of Christ—His death as a substitution for mine. The moment a man is recreated in Christ, he has everything he needs for life and godliness through his knowledge of Christ and has God's great and precious promises (2Peter 1:3,4). From that point on, God calls him to live by that same faith, and not by sight (2Cor. 5:7). And he can do all things through Christ, who gives him strength (Phil. 4:13).

THE CHOICE

As Christians, we get to choose 1) to walk by faith and see with God's eyes of love and grace, the world and all those around us; or 2) to walk by human sight and judge the world and all those around us (even ourselves) with eyes of performance. This latter way, the way of the flesh, bears ugly fruit: impatience, anger, envy, contentions, and much, much worse (Gal. 5:19-22). The world presses on us to walk this way. Those of the world are trapped in this "trying and striving" and want us to wallow in it with them. Because God loves His children, He disciplines us when we choose the way of performance. The Spirit is quenched, the Christian life "feels" difficult and maybe even burdensome, and relationships grow cool and distant. Onlookers are rarely discomforted by God's holiness in our lives--the cross is hidden to them.

But to walk by faith is to see with spiritual eyes what God sees. This is walking in the Spirit. The Spirit's fruit is: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal 5:22,23). Notice that this is not our effort. It is the Spirit's effort, which is limitless. Thus, walking in the Spirit is effortless, though it may be accompanied by pain or sorrow, depending on circumstances. Paul said that he was always sorrowful yet always rejoicing.

Let us be clear about this: that for believers, 1) the only thing that matters is faith working through love (Gal. 5:6), and 2) the Spirit empowers every believer to have this abundant love in every circumstance—no exceptions—if one looks with eyes of faith. The uncomfortable implication is that loving very difficult believers is super easy, even effortless. The burden is on our loving Father to keep His promises. He provides all the energy when we walk by faith.

WHY DO WE GET IMPATIENT OR WORSE?

What do you see when you notice a fellow saint sin in some way? Do you see a person who is: dearly loved by God, free from condemnation, and holy and righteous in His sight? If so, your first reaction should be one of tenderness and grace, with a desire to draw close to remind that dear saint of the cross. Irritation, impatience, envy, avoidance, bitterness, or worse, are all the overflow of noticing that dear saint with eyes of performance rather than faith. You simply forgot to consider all the promises he has in Christ. Christ is all his righteous. Should not we also think Christ sufficient for him?

RESPONSE

"The only thing that matters is faith working through love." When a brother sins we should restore him to faith—a vision of the cross. The brother has not lost his faith, he simply has forgotten to use his faith. The world tempts us to restore him to proper human performance or worthiness standard. The standard chosen does not matter.

Which vision will you choose: "Faith working through love" or human performance?
Your life will bear the fruit of your choice: Gal. 5:22,23 or Gal 5:19-21