Before I invited Christ in my life, I was destined to Hell...so the person who has not invited Christ in their lives still is.
Before I invited Christ in my life, I did not have the Holy Spirit living in me. So a person who does not have the Holy Spirit living in them isn't convicted of sin and can carry out their sin with no feeling of conviction or wrongdoing.
Before Christ, I was in the same boat. God changed me when I simply made a decision to ask Christ in my life and follow Him.
We are all sinners and all fall short of the glory of God. We are redeemed through our acceptance of Christ's blood in exchange for our sins. After that, we change.
A person un-redeemed hasn't changed.
Prior to inviting Christ in our lives, we experienced torment in our soul, unrest and dissatisfaction.
After inviting Christ in our lives, we experience a peace that is unexplainable.
When I see a person who does not know Christ, I see a person who has never experienced peace or the security of knowing where they will spend eternity...when I look at it like that, its much easier for me to extend forgiveness to that person who has never known or experienced the true love of God in their life or the peace that comes with that rather than for me to hold their sin against them.
One way I can help them is to mirror Christ and His love.
Forgiving those who are not following Christ shows that I understand the person has not yet had a born again experience. Offering my forgiveness gives that person a taste of what it could be like to have their sins forgiven by Christ.
The mystery of how and why a person could extend forgiveness can only be explained this way: I was once a sinner and experienced Christ's forgiveness~~so I know the "before" and the "after"
...except for the grace of God, there go I.
Forgiveness is undeserved by the person receiving it~~so that is why it's a gift.
Forgiveness also allows me to stay free from the evil one who is hoping to trip me up with one act of un-forgiveness.
Parable of the Unforgiving Debtor
Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?”“No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven!
“Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars. He couldn’t pay, so his master ordered that he be sold—along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned—to pay the debt.“But the man fell down before his master and begged him, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.’ Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt.“But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment.“His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it,’ he pleaded. But his creditor wouldn’t wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full.“When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened. Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt.“That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters
from your heart.”
“Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars. He couldn’t pay, so his master ordered that he be sold—along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned—to pay the debt.“But the man fell down before his master and begged him, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.’ Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt.“But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment.“His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it,’ he pleaded. But his creditor wouldn’t wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full.“When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened. Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt.“That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters
from your heart.”
Matthew 18:21-35
