Nancy Guthrie's last session--Hearing Jesus Speak About...The Offense that Doesn't Deserve to Be Forgiven--spoke to me the most last Saturday. I studied all the scriptures she mentioned and heard a lot of what she taught previously, but the way she delivered the message deepened my understanding and the Holy Spirit softened my heart. I am sure every woman there would say their favorite session was a different one because of our various trials and tribulations. This session was the hardest for me to swallow, and yet, it was the best, in my opinion, because it's what I needed to hear.
She divided the session into five parts:
1) Hear Jesus say: "Your role model for forgiving is my own generous forgiveness."
Guthrie reminded us that Jesus forgives others before praying in Mark 11:25. Jesus understands what it means to be hurt by others, and if we forget that fact, we need to remember what He said on the cross, "Father, forgive them!" None of us has been hurt by others like Jesus. Our hurts don't compare in the least, so if we're looking for someone to sympathize with us, he can. He knows our pain.
2) Hear Jesus say: "Your refusal to forgive reveals that you don't see how much you've been forgiven."
Guthrie reminded us that the debt we owe to Him is huge and impossible to pay. Until we realize how enormous it is, we will hold others' sins against us over their heads. See the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant in Matthew 18.
3) Hear Jesus say: "Your responsibility is to humbly examine your own heart."
Guthrie showed us the connection between our willingness to forgive others and His willingness to forgive us at the end of the parable. She exhorted us because this parable cannot be watered down. If we truly are His disciples, we will live and breathe in a sacrificial state of forgiveness towards others. She gave the resounding reminder that God will use our own measuring cup for others to forgive us.
4) Hear Jesus say: "Your resource for forgiving is my Holy Spirit inside you."
In this part, Guthrie encouraged us that we have every tool we need to forgive living in us. She implored us to remember that a mustard seed of forgiveness in our hearts gives us the strength to forgive, not more faith. Ultimately, forgiveness is a miracle of God.
5) Hear Jesus say: "Your resistance to forgiving is washed away by your tears of repentance."
Guthrie encouraged us even more by reminding us that Jesus is there every part of the way. She said that we can walk around saying we have issues or baggage, but if we are honest with ourselves, we will realize those things are just unforgiveness in our hearts. Those things will be washed away by tears of honest repentance. She said we need to choose to stop rehearsing conversations with our offender(s) in our heads and let it go. Real forgiveness says, "You hurt me deeply, but I am not going to make you pay. I am not going to continue a campaign of ill will." Forgiveness means paying the debt of hurt for them because Jesus pays for ours.
She gave a few reminders regarding what forgiveness does not mean:
1. You don't leave.
2. You don't press charges.
3. You ignore ongoing unrepentant sin.
4. You don't confront.
5. You have to extend the same level of trust and openness.
What I learned: I must be less consumed by others' offenses even when I have a right to be angry. In addition, I must be honest with myself about my own failures. I need to see the growing log in my eye compared to the speck in others' eyes. If I don't, I could become an angry and bitter woman--something I don't want to be. Unforgiveness traps; forgiveness frees. There is no sin against me so great that I cannot forgive.
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