| New Testament Love and Forgiveness |
Learning how to forgive requires time. New Testament love—agape love—develops in the life of a repenting Christian over time as well.
A repenting Christian woman will journey deeper with the Lord as she is continually awed that she is forgiven and loved by the very God Whom she has offended.
As she confesses (agrees with God) that she is forgiven and loved because of what He has done and continues to do on her behalf (not what she is doing for Him), she will put off the images of the old (wo)man and be made new in the attitude of her mind (Ephesians 4:22-24).
Over time her repentance will move from heart-wrenching struggle to simple surrender.
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”God seems to honor struggle…. ”His nation’s name, Israel, implies He wants His people to strip down to the flesh and do battle with Him.
He blesses even the one who fights against Him—as long as the fight is with Him, for the sake of knowing Him, and being known by Him.
“In my fury and hatred against God,
I still suspect that God will destroy me. In fact, He should.
His plan, instead, is merely
to cripple me—to mark me with His awesome handiwork of brokenness, weakness, and poverty.
“The creator God,
who dwells in majesty and glory,
walks with the marks of shame in His hands and side, and invites me to bear the same honor.
“It is in this context that I understand the message of the gospel.” Bold Love
Dr. Dan B. Allender
Dr. Tremper Longman III
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As she is learning to forgive, the struggling Christian will continue to repent genuinely because He gives her room to wrestle with Him through her pain.
He is slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, forgiving sin and rebellion (Psalm 86:15, Number 14:18).
His love for her will renew her mind and transform her life.
This New Testament love, agape love, is God (1 John 4:16) Who is working by His Spirit in her life.
And this New Testament love, agape love, of God alive in her, over time, will draw her to love others, even those who have offended her deeply.
The following command will be made alive in her soul.
A new command I give you:
Love one another.
As I have loved you,
so you must love one another.
~John 13:34
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AS
I
HAVE
LOVED
YOU
And just how does God love you and continue to love you, especially when you’re broken-hearted and learning how to forgive?
Consider these thoughts:
- While yet a sinner, He laid down His life for you.
- When you turned to Him in your despair and anger at what you perceived He had allowed into your life, He received you as the prodigal son’s father received the prodigal: with joy, not condemnation.
- He invites you to wrestle with Him—to bring your most difficult questions and angry thoughts before Him.
- He offers you agape love and forgiveness which opens the door to your response to Him.
- Your humble response—repentance—brings reconciliation in your relationship with Him.
- He sets boundaries for your life, boundaries that free you from self and sin… to love and relate to Him and others in healthy, Life-giving ways.
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New Testament Love
“Love can be known only from the actions it prompts.
“God’s love is seen in the gift of His Son. But obviously this is not the love of complacency, or affection;
that is, it was not drawn out by an excellency in its objects.
“Christian love…is not an impulse from the feelings; it does not always run with the natural inclinations, nor does it spend itself only upon those for whom some affinity is discovered.
“Love seeks the welfare of all”
(Romans 15:2).
~Vine’s Expository Dictionary
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Throughout your trying and painful circumstances, He loves and forgives you, showing you the example of how to love and forgive.
Why?
So you can do likewise (Mathew 18:23-35).
I pray that you,
being rooted and established in love,
may have power,
together with all the saints,
to grasp how wide and long
and high and deep
is the love of Christ,
and to know this love
that surpasses knowledge—
that you may be filled to the measure
of all the fullness of God. ~Ephesians 3:17-19
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Father-God,
Thank You for your agape love and forgiveness in each of our lives.
As this hurting woman discovers Who You are, may she be moved to worship.
May the reality of what You have done and continue to do for her through Your Son’s life, death, and resurrection stir her heart with compassion for her offender.
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Continue to teach each of us, Lord, by Your example in our own lives how to love and forgive those who sin against You and, consequently, sin against us.
By Your power, may we love and forgive others because we are loved and forgiven and may New Testament love, agape love, continue to increase in each of our lives.
Continue with the next article in this “How to Forgive” series:
Agape love opens the door to reconciliation.
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