The Vision (12.27.24): Thomas Watson: Eight Reasons to Forgive Others

 

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday afternoon's sermon on Matthew 6:12.

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors (Matthew 6:12).

Here are eight reasons to forgive others suggested by the Puritan Thomas Watson (1620-1686) in his exposition of Matthew 6:12:

1.      When we forgive others we resemble God who is always ready to forgive sinners.

 

Psalm 86:5 For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.

 

2.      It shows that we have God’s grace in our hearts.

 

3.     The example of our Lord Jesus teaches us this.  What did he say on the cross?  “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).

 

4.   If we do not forgive, it hinders our spiritual life and our participation in the ordinances of God.  An unforgiving spirit is “like an obstruction in the body.”

 

5.     God has tied his mercy to this condition.  If we do not forgive others, he will not  forgive us (cf. Matthew 6:14-15).

 

6.      We have the examples of the saints who had forgiving spirits.

Think of Joseph who forgave his brothers: “ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good” (Genesis 50:20).

Think of Moses who put up with the murmuring and complaining and rebellion of Israel.

Think of Stephen who when he was being stoned, followed the model of our Lord and prayed for his persecutors: “Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not charge them with this sin’” (Acts 7:60).

It is said that once when Luther had reviled Calvin, that Calvin replied, “Though he call me a devil a thousand times, yet will I love and honour him as a precious servant of Christ.”

 

7.      Forgiveness is the best way to give good for evil and to conquer and melt the heart of an enemy (cf. Romans 12:19-21).

Part of having a forgiving spirit is this knowledge that God is in charge and one day wrongs will be righted by him.  Watson and the other Puritans who were so often maligned by men who disagreed with them in faith and practice were fond of saying that there will be in the end a resurrection of names as well as bodies.

 

8.      Forgiving others is the way to have forgiveness from God and is a sign of that forgiveness.

 

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle