Communion With God

Chapter 24—Confession and a Forgiving Spirit Essential

BIBLE GEM

“If ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”—Matthew 6:14, 15 CWG 60.1

“Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”—Luke 23:34 CWG 60.2

“Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.”—Ephesians 4:32 CWG 60.3

QUESTION

Since the measure of our forgiveness toward those who wrong or offend us is the measure by which we may expect God to forgive us, how important becomes the question, “To what extent do I maintain a spirit of forgiveness in my heart?” CWG 60.4

ANSWER

Receiving God's mercy depends upon us: “When we come to ask mercy and blessing from God we should have a spirit of love and forgiveness in our own hearts. How can we pray, ‘Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors,’ and yet indulge an unforgiving spirit? (Matthew 6:12) If we expect our own prayers to be heard, we must forgive others in the same manner and to the same extent as we hope to be forgiven.”—Steps to Christ, 97 CWG 60.5

What to do if you have wronged someone: “If you have given offense to your friend or neighbor, you are to acknowledge your wrong, and it is his duty freely to forgive you. Then you are to seek the forgiveness of God, because the brother you have wounded is the property of God, and in injuring him you sinned against his Creator and Redeemer.”—Steps to Christ, 37 CWG 60.6

“If we have unwittingly borne false witness, if we have misstated his words, if we have injured his influence in any way, we should go to the ones with whom we have conversed about him, and take back all our injurious misstatements.”—Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, 59 CWG 61.1

“Honesty of intention cannot stand as an excuse for not confessing errors.”—Early Writings, 103 CWG 61.2

True confession is specific: “True confession is always of a specific character, and acknowledges particular sins. They may be of such a nature as to be brought before God only; they may be wrongs that should be confessed to individuals who have suffered injury through them; or they may be of a public character, and should then be as publicly confessed. But all confession should be definite and to the point, acknowledging the very sins of which you are guilty.”—Steps to Christ, 38 CWG 61.3

Confess before sins are found out: “There is a vast difference between admitting facts after they have been proved and confessing sins known only to our selves and to God.”—Patriarchs and Prophets, 498 CWG 61.4

“There are those among you who will make confessions, as did Achan, too late to save themselves.”—Testimonies For The Church 3:272 CWG 61.5

SUMMARY AND PRAYER THOUGHT

The Lord helped me to take injury, criticism, gossip, bodily injury, lies, racial hatred, and I have been robbed Early in my Christian walk, the good Lord taught me to instantly unconditionally forgive others just the way I would want to be forgiven and as a result I always have perfect peace. Even with a positive attitude like this, we can still have battles with forgiveness. For example, there is one area I have a real problem with when Christians are heartless and prevent others from receiving the gospel. Because of pride or arrogance, individuals exercise their authority to stop God's saving grace from flowing to certain people because of their race or color. Because of this one area of unforgiveness and hard feelings toward the offender, when I read the above Bible verses and quotes I was unable to write. My mind was in turmoil. I wrestled and wrestled with those thoughts. Finally, finding no peace, I went to my knees with my problem of not being able to forgive. I prayed and asked for peace and forgiveness over this issue and forgiveness for the guilty offenders. After a long wrestle in prayer, God gave me peace on the condition that I would forgive and pray for the salvation of the persons concerned. CWG 61.6

Please help us, Lord, to follow Christ's example of forgiveness, because many times they don’t know what they are doing. CWG 61.7