DO I ALWAYS HAVE TO ASK FOR FORGIVENESS?
Sakkie Parsons
Someone asked me the question: If you did something wrong against someone else, do you always have to confess it to the person – even if the person does not even know about it?
To answer the question, like so many in my life, I want to do this in imitation of my great hero Paul. He also says:
1 COR 11:1-2
1 Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.
2 Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you.
For what I am going to say now, I don’t have Scripture, but I based it on the wisdom and knowledge God has given me regarding the human character: So I will now also give my opinion.
On one occasion, Paul explained this in this way to his people:
1 COR 7:12 To the rest I say (I, not the Lord) that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her.Here is my opinion and how I see and live it:
If you apologize to our Lord and undertake not to do so anymore, then God has forgiven you and in this regard it is like a new agreement between you and our Lord.
I say, If you at all think that the person will not be able to handle the confession and you have truly repented and have sincerely apologized to our Lord – then it is over and not only is it settled but as far as our Lord is concerned, it does not exist any longer.
HEB 10:15-18
15 And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,
16 "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,"
17 then he adds, "I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more."
18 Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.
Trust Jesus and hold unto Him!
Now, however, I must not think that I can do it again and just apologize to our Lord again and the matter is right.
Then I'm making a mockery of the cross and how horrible it is! I then make God my Enemy:
HEB 10:26-27
26 For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
27 but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.
Remember now – I'm talking about something you did wrong to someone else and that the person does not know about it and if he or she knew about it would have felt hurt, or might not have been able to handle it correctly or it will cart off the person’s inner peace.
So, everything I said should be seen against this background.
However, if the person is aware of what you have done wrong, you must always confess and apologize – to the person as well as to our LORD.
I have written more about this which I will lovingly send to you on request namely:
1. Confess as long as it is in love
2. Confession of sins – Part 1,2,3
Greetings,
Sakkie