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Devotional
Forgiveness Not an Option
By: Deborah Bahmer 2008
Mark 11: 25, 26 says, "And when you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive it so that also your Father in Heaven may forgive you your trespasses. However if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in Heaven forgiver your trespasses." (MKJV)
Often times when someone has hurt us we feel we are justified in not forgiving them for what they have done to us, we feel that we have the right to hold a grudge. Many set out to seek revenge against those they feel have wronged them. Yet the Word of the Lord tells us in Matthew 5:44 that we are to pray for those who use and persecute us and to bless those who curse us.
As much as we would like forgiveness to be optional the Word of the Lord says that it is not an option, it is a necessity; it is an essential element to our forgiveness from the Father.
Mark 11: 25, 26 says, "And when you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive it so that also your Father in Heaven may forgive you your trespasses. However if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in Heaven forgiver your trespasses." (MKJV)
Forgiveness is not an option it is an essential element to our forgiveness when we sin.
It is our flesh, the natural side of man, which does not want to forgive. It is that part of man that seeks revenge against those who may have hurt or wronged us, but it is the recreated spirit of man that knows we must forgive in order to be forgiven.
It is that age-old battle between the spirit and flesh and we must come to the point in our spiritual growth towards maturity that forgiveness is immediate when we have been hurt or wronged.