2 Corinthians 2:5-11 – 5 If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you, to some extent—not to put it too severely. 6 The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient for him. 7 Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him. 9 The reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. 10 If you forgive anyone, I also forgive him. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, 11 in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.
This day and age is trickier on how to do with things. We live in a time where people aren’t just sinning; they are getting to the point that they aren’t seeking the Lord.
The verses above are referring to a Christian who really does care. He is sincere in being distraught that he failed the Lord and his fellow believers. By all means, this is when we need to seek the strength of the Lord and to help strengthen our brother and sister.
The tough part we now have to deal with everyday is, “The Lord made me who I am and this is who I am supposed to be. You have to accept it and love me for it.”
That’s not what the above referenced verses are saying. That’s a heart that hasn’t repented or sought what the Lord wants or expects. We’re all sinners and all need to fight some form of who we can naturally be.
Getting back to the forgiveness of someone who has done wrong, think of it like school children. You have kids that get shunned in every group and then the child ends up in a group of the rest that have been shunned. In many cases those groups can be easy pickens with the stuff that comes with low self esteem. Enough of that, but when someone who is a Christian can’t go back and strengthen again they can become either bitter and fall away, or the enemy slips in with sheep’s clothing slowly getting them off the path.
As we all know forgiveness is essential as it is the only reason we are even allowed back into the presence of God in the first place. He forgave us even thought He has never wronged us. Here we wrong each other all the time and who wants to be the unforgiving individuals?
Our strength as Christians comes in our love from God to each other. That means forgiving. It also means letting someone know the truth and that it’s not okay according to the Word of God on some of the things they are doing. The Word of God is what corrects, not us. That’s why we all need to do our best to obey it because we don’t have a leg to stand on if we don’t live it ourselves and let others then know they should be living it.