What Charlie taught about forgiveness
When Jesus forgives your sin, he never mentions it again, and you are free to forgive in return.
“Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.”
Ephesians 4:31-32 (KJV)
“But you know, what's amazing is that once Jesus Christ forgives your sin at that moment, he will never mention that sin to you again. He will never hold that against you. He will never say that you are anything but a son of his and that you are born into eternity.”
Charlie spoke about forgiveness as two halves of one gift: the forgiveness you receive and the forgiveness you give away. He started with what he called the amazing part. Once Jesus Christ forgives your sin, he said, at that moment he will never mention that sin to you again. He will never hold it against you.
That matters because, as he put it, Satan loves to hold your past against you. He described the voice that says your failure shows you might as well give up. Jesus does not talk that way. Charlie said Christ will never say you are anything but a son of his, born into eternity.
“And so never should we become bitter or callous and we should also have a heart for forgiveness… because we are all forgiven. And we are told in the scriptures that if we actually harbor unforgiveness, it creates into bitterness. And also that is a vector for Satan to be able to control our lives.”
That is also the foundation for the other half. In a conversation with Pastor Steve Smothermon, he said we should never become bitter or callous, and we should have a heart for forgiveness, because we are all forgiven.
He was clear about the cost of the alternative. We are told in Scripture, he said, that harboring unforgiveness turns into bitterness, and that bitterness becomes a way in for the enemy to control our lives. Unforgiveness is not a harmless grudge. It is a weight you carry that keeps you from the freedom you were given.
Paul says it in one line: be kind and tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. We forgive because we have been forgiven. We do not have to earn it, and neither does the person we are forgiving.
Living it today
Think of one person you have been holding something against. Ask the Lord to forgive you for your own part, then say out loud, I forgive you, even if they never hear it. If a conversation is right, start it this week.
A prayer
Lord Jesus, thank you that you do not hold my sins against me. Wipe my heart clean of bitterness. Give me the grace to forgive the way you forgave me, and to walk free of every grudge I have been carrying. Amen.