This is going to be a very short script, but hopefully it will be a very practical one
and it will bring lasting relief to a lot of people.
The subject is bitterness.
People often write to me asking how to overcome bitterness.
But even more people make no mention of bitterness, at the same time that there is evidence that bitterness
is holding them back from spiritual growth.
So the first step in overcoming bitterness
has to simply be recognising that it exists.
But along with that, I think we need to understand what a dangerous and harmful poison bitterness is.
Others have talked about how the poison destroys your own spirit
in terms of making a bitter person difficult to get along with.
But more than that, while you are bitter
there is a very strong chance that you are still destined for hell.
In other words, forgiving your enemies is not optional.
Your entire salvation may depend on you dealing with it, and doing so urgently.
That is the real point of this video.
It is about this one very simple, yet shocking truth
that you will not be forgiven for YOUR sins until and unless you have forgiven the people who have hurt you for their sins.
In fact, you need to actually pray that God will forgive them too.
It's right there in the Lord's Prayer, which is recited by professing Christians all over the world:
"Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us."
Or, as some translations have it, "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors."
Can you see a very important CONDITION with regard to forgiveness in that prayer?
It's just one more nail in the coffin of that horrendous doctrine
which says that God places no conditions on those whom he chooses to save.
But he does. He has always had conditions.
"IF you obey me, THEN I will bless you."
You'll find it from cover to cover in the Bible.
And so it is with forgiveness, as mentioned in the template that Jesus himself gave us for all prayer.
If you refuse to forgive your enemies, then you can just stop expecting to be forgiven for your own sins.
"Forgive us, as we forgive our worst enemies."
Jesus told a story about a man who was forgiven for a debt running into millions of dollars (by today's standards)
and then the same man refused to forgive someone who owed him a rather paltry amount of money.
What happened to that man? He was sent to prison for the debt which had presumably already been forgiven.
I think there is even mention of weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth...
the kind of terminology usually reserved for mention of hell.
It's counter-intuitive that God would forgive us, and then take back his forgiveness. It is not have we have been taught, is it?
But that is precisely what the story of the unforgiving servant teaches.
If you don't forgive your enemies, then you lose any salvation that you may have assumed you already had.
And, of course, in the Lords Prayer, Jesus goes even further.
He says that the kind of forgiveness that we can expect from God
will reflect the kind of forgiveness we have already given to those who have trespassed against us...
whether or not they even ASKED for forgiveness.
Can you see how this raises the bar on just how important it is to forgive the people for whom we have grudges right now?
Can you see how there is no room for us to wish revenge on them
unless we wish God to take out similar vengeance on us?
So here is what I have started to do with the words in the Lord's Prayer
each time I have gone through those words in my own personal communication with God.
I have kind of reversed them to how they are written in the Bible.
There's obviously nothing wrong with how they already appear.
But they CAN be misunderstood to think that we get forgiveness NOW
(immediately and automatically, just by asking for it)
whereas our enemies may or may not get forgiveness at some time in the future.
The key to getting this into perspective is in that little word "as".
"As" can mean "in the same way". For example: "It tastes as good as real sugar."
But it can also mean "at the same time". It's like saying "I was reading a book as the parade marched by."
These are two actions (me reading and the parade marching) that happened at the same time.
So why not do it like this: "Please forgive my enemies right now. Wipe their slate clean.
"And while you are at it, please forgive me too... as totally as you forgive my enemies."
Jesus made it clear that his true followers could actually "forgive sins"
and he promised that the forgiveness we dispense to others will be honoured in heaven.
God, too, will forgive them. I don't know that we can do this for all sins
but certainly we can forgive sins in which we were the victim.
And if we DO forgive them, then GOD will forgive them too.
Are you willing to come right out and ask God to wipe the slate clean... even for your worst enemies...
knowing that he will do just that, if you ask him, in faith, to do it?
Try it, and I think you will find a spiritual release that will make you feel just that little bit more secure in your own salvation
as God forgives you.
Pray... regularly... for your enemies...
for all the people against whom you may have grudges... for people who have hurt you.
Pray that God will forgive them, and then believe that he really does.
And THEN pray and ask God to forgive you in the same way.
You could find this to be a much more personally rewarding way to deal with the bitterness
that has been holding you back from achieving your full potential as a follower of Christ.
Please give a like to this video if you have found it to be helpful.
And share your thoughts in the comment section below. Peace! And Amen!