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[[topics_collection_iv|| Topics Collection iv ]]
======Easter is Coming VI: Forgiveness Active...======
Thursday, April 5, 2012. How do you forgive? What is the process of
forgiving? What is happening when you forgive or when you are forgiven?
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**Active Process ...**
Is to forgive more than just to forget? When something happened which
hurt us, we might say "forget it". That would mean that we just try to erase
the memory to the events. Is forgiveness nothing else than forgetting?
I think that to forgive means much more. I would not claim that I completely
understand what happens - on various layers of our body and soul and on the
layers of the spiritual world. But I am aware that on all levels things
happen when we forgive.
Also, to forgive is an active process. It is not something passive, where
we just leave something and do not touch it again. It is something which takes
our attention. To forgive is something which needs activity. To forgive
is a process which needs focus!
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Forgiveness is a process which has a target. The target of forgiveness is
to restore a healthy relationship. Its target is to heal. Its target is to
restore. When you have forgiven, actively forgiven, you are back to a state
where true relationships can grow.
The process in the bible ...
We said that God chose the death of Jesus to be adequate to start forgiveness.
It is an important aspect of this death that it is something active. Jesus
came, he prepared himself, to die. It is, to an important part, the purpose of the
life of Jesus to die for the sin of the world. God actively carried out his
forgiveness.
With the death of Jesus God is actively destroying guilt. He is actively
addressing the problems, the pain, the injustice. He is taking it serious. It
is much more than just forgetting sin. It is actively destroying sin.
When we enter forgiveness, this is also an active process. We receive - we do not
need to do anything. But still reception needs our yes, our decision, and then
the reception of forgiveness leads to a transformation of our personality which
includes our heart and our mind, our decisions and our concept of life, all
our activities.
(Roland Potthast)
[[http://www.jesusnetwork.eu/en/doku.php/topics_collection_iv|... more texts]]