Forgiving Others
Preaching/Speaking: Rev. Adam Hamilton
Date Presented: May 02, 2010
Sermon Series:
Forgiveness
OVERVIEW
“1. Is forgiving condoning? The answer is “no.” To let go of our right for retaliation is not to say that what the other person did was okay. We can choose to let go of our anger and resentment and still be clear what happened was wrong. If we don’t, we continue to give the wrong and the wrongdoer power over us. We continue to carry their rocks in our backpack if we are unwilling to forgive.
2. Does forgiving negate consequences? The answer again is “no.” If someone steals from me, or lies regularly to me, I will forgive them, but that doesn’t mean I will trust them again. I had a friend who betrayed a confidence. I love him, but I know that I can’t tell him anything in confidence because he’s likely to share it with others. Consequences are sometimes the only way we learn. So, if my children when they were small did something wrong, I would forgive them, but they might still be grounded–the grounding was about redemption.
3. Do we forgive them if they have not repented?...There are two sense of forgiveness. There is the internal letting go of the right to retaliation, giving up bitterness and resentment. And there is extending mercy to the other, so that they know you have released them from the guilt of their sin towards you. We call this showing mercy towards them. We must forgive in the first sense. We cannot let the wrong continue to have control over us. But when it comes to showing mercy towards the other, we are not required to do this until they have repented. In fact, sometimes showing mercy towards one who has not repented can keep them from redemption….Mercy extended prematurely might actually harm the one you’re extending it too. It can make you an enabler of their actions if you extend mercy too quickly.” --Rev. Adam Hamilton in “Forgiving Others”