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Comments
How that verse in Gal.6:1 on "restoring a man overtaken in a fault" may not necessarily be one that trespass against you the restorer, but I can see how it can work in such a case. It would mean ofcourse the one in a fault would be opened to restoration. There will be people that have trespass against us that has no desire whatsoever to mend things or even care for our forgiveness. But we are call upon to forgive each other "AS GOD FOR CHRIST'S SAKE HATH FORGIVEN YOU". Certain none of us merit forgiveness from God but He did it for us anyway in His Son.
I believe that forgiveness allows us to let go of "getting even" with the one that has wrong us and gives us the great opportunity to demonstrate and reflect the image of God. Forgiveness also releases us from bitterness, wrath, anger,clamour,evil speaking (of the one who have wrong us), and malice.
Kevin this has been really good for me and you have minister to my heart. Thank you for taking the time to share, feel free to continue.
You question is kind of "two fold". First of all, you ask if the offended can forgive the offender if the offender doesn't know he has committed an offense toward the offended.
I would have to say that the answer to this is YES. Yes, because Jesus requested of God while he was hanging on the cross (tree, whatever), to "forgive them Father, for they know not what they do". They didn't know what they had done, yet Jesus asked God to forgive them.
Then you asked; "Does forgiveness requires us to meet and commune with the trespassER?" My answer to this would be "No" from what I know in my limited knowledge and scope of God's Word. However, and I cannot remember the verse, but I believe that somewhere is a section of scripture that says something to the effect of; "if a brother be overtaken in a fault, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness".
So, it appears that if it is possible to confront or "restore" a brother by speaking to him about his fault, then it should in fact be done. Personally, I would rather er on the side of compassion and forgiveness than "refusing to forgive someone". I had refused to forgive a particular LC for a long time, and I allowed bitterness in my life because of it. And finally, my wife challenged me to forgive that guy so that I could stop being bitter about an incident that I couldn't change. And so, even though he didn't know it, I forgave him, and my bitterness melted away. Worked for me. That guy is here at this site now. Hmm. Maybe if he and I ever have a chance to chat, it might come up, and we'll see what happens...
I reused to