Stewarding Forgiveness

I haven't gotten this all thought out yet (maybe writing this blog post will help), but this is something that I feel that God showed me during the Healing Group that I attended last weekend.

The topic that we were studying was "Forgiveness". As we were discussing it, I felt that God brought two concepts together in my mind that I hadn't considered in this way before (I won't say that the Healing Group taught this, but rather it brought my mind to a point to be able to understand it differently than I had before).

I have long believed that nothing comes against me that has not previously been sifted through God's fingers. He can and does protect me from many slings and arrows that may be directed my way, but He, in His sovereignty, allows some to come to wound me. Sometimes I can see why He has allowed suffering or pain in my life, sometimes I cannot. My experience with God that He is trustworthy and faithful gives me confidence that He is still trustworthy and faithful, even when I cannot see it. I have a very strong trust in the sovereignty of God - either He is sovereign, or He is not, and I can't comprehend Him not being sovereign... so He is sovereign in all things.

A second belief that I have is that I own nothing; God owns everything. I am a steward of things that God provides. Many years ago, Dwayne and I took a Crown Financial Ministries class. One of the lessons in that class talked about God owning everything. One of the activities that we did in the class was writing a "Quit-Claim Deed" - we listed everything that we may have previously said was "ours" and indicated that we were now acknowledging that they belonged to God (obviously, this was not a legal document, but rather a confession of and communication of belief). We listed the house, cars, furniture, etc.. I can remember that Dwayne listed the cats on the Quit-Claim Deed - I told him that he couldn't get rid of them that easily, that we were still stewards to take care of them!!! We even listed our bodies on the Quit-Claim Deed - and Dwayne would remind us both of that every time we prayed a blessing over a meal, asking that God would use the food "to strengthen Your bodies for Your service."

So, in considering forgiveness this past weekend, it occurs to me that (1) if someone offends me in some way, God has allowed that offense to come against me. Either He is sovereign or He is not, and I believe He is sovereign, so I think that this belief that He has allowed the offense follows.
And (2) if God has "given" me an offense from someone (allowed them to offend me), then He expects me to "steward" the gift of the offense well. I have been forgiven of far more grievous offenses against God than could be done against me, how can I do less than forgive others of their offenses against me? As Jesus indicated in the model prayer, "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us."

I was sharing this with my D-group this evening - we are studying in Acts, and one of the chapters last week was Acts 7, the account of the stoning of Stephen. As he was dying, he said, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." (Acts 7:60). Stephen gave an example of stewarding forgiveness well; he certainly could have desired to call down the wrath of God on those who killed him. But, as one of the ladies in the group had pointed out from Acts 6, Stephen was "full of" many things: good repute, full of the Spirit and wisdom, full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, full of grace and power -- net: Stephen was full of Jesus. So full, that when he was stoned, when he was dying, Jesus figuratively bled out of him, forgiving them of their offenses. His forgiveness, his grace towards them, enabled those who committed this heinous act to have the ability to come to faith in Jesus.

What does this look like in my life? When I am offended, I probably am sensing a prick or a damage or a hurt or murder in an area that doesn't "belong" to me anyway - back to (1): it all belongs to God. And so, it is up to the owner (God) to address the prick or damage or hurt or murder, not me. It is up to me to be a good steward.

I haven't been thinking through this long enough yet to feel settled in my thinking, but, I definitely think that the concept of being called to "be a good steward of forgiveness" is in line with scripture, and that I need to let God teach me more about it.