In this final episode of season seven, Nathan, Bob, and Otavio conclude their series on Jesus' teaching about prayer by exploring forgiveness—one of the most challenging aspects of spiritual life. This isn't about religious obligation or being nice—it's about breaking free from chains that imprison us long after the original offense.

The conversation reveals why Jesus, after teaching the Lord's Prayer, circles back to emphasize only forgiveness. The hosts show how unforgiveness functions as a spiritual blocker that short-circuits our relationship with God. Using the historical context of Roman oppression, they demonstrate how Jesus called people to radical heart transformation that would make them "the light of the world." The episode explores the reciprocal relationship between receiving and extending forgiveness, using the metaphor of a flower opening to the sun's warmth.

The hosts offer practical frameworks including the distinction between forgiveness and reconciliation, the power of being "willing to be made willing," and a step-by-step process for beginning without committing to the outcome upfront. They share Corrie ten Boom's story of forgiving her sister's murderer and unpack Jesus' words from the cross—"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do"—as the model for releasing offenders to God. Perfect for anyone wrestling with resentment or wondering how forgiveness unlocks God's love.

For more info: loveshaped.life

Won't I don't want to use the term easy, because this is just not something that's easy. It's just not that's just the reality, but it's more doable. I would say, once you can actually do a reasonable reflection and realize that people do things a lot of times in ignorance and not realizing how impactful their decisions and their choices are. And Jesus realized at that moment, while he's hanging on the cross, that the people who put him there, truth be told, a lot of them thought they were doing the right thing, a good thing. They had no clue what they're doing, and he literally what he did at that moment was he basically said,

Welcome to the Loveshaped Life Podcast. I'm Nathan, here with Bob and Otavio. Loveshaped Life podcast is where we lean into the love of God. We want to see, experience and live in the center of its rhythm. Octavia, how are you doing today?

I'm good. Definitely excited about this last episode in this podcast. So

excited. Yeah. Can you believe we're actually wrapping up this section of Jesus’ teaching and Bob, you ready for this?

I am. I'm ready for this, almost, in one sense, sad to see it go, because it's the last episode of the season, but excited about pulling it all together.

Yeah. So in our plans, we had three episodes on prayer, and we're actually going to touch on prayer a little bit today, but we're going to go ahead and wrap up this season. And this is episode six of season seven of our podcast. We're going to wrap up today. We are continuing a little bit on the prayer teaching with the first lines in Jesus message for today. And then we're going to wrap up with a couple more verses from Jesus teaching couple more lines and some summary conversation. So the first line that we want to come to in the text are these two lines where Jesus says, and you'll understand in a minute the connection to the Prayer For if you forgive other people when they sin against You, Your Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your father will not forgive your sins. Here's that connection. It's probably been a week since you listened to the podcast. Here's that connection in the Lord's Prayer, there's that line, Give us today our daily bread, and it's followed by this, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. So then Jesus has those words about forgiveness, where he's doubling down, in a sense, on those two lines from the prayer. So we're gonna just process that for a minute. What do we do with those lines where Jesus is really doubling down on the call to forgiveness?

It's interesting here in verse 14, the emphasis that he's making, because in the emphasis, he's focusing in on the importance of the second part that was mentioned in the prayer, and that is basically that we have to be willing to forgive others. It's like example of a parent again, like you should communicate something. You want to get a message across, you will say it one time, but now, if you want to say it a second time, that point now becomes a point of emphasis, and you really want that particular point to be gotten across clearly. And that's what Jesus, I think, is doing right here. So definitely, we seek forgiveness from God. But that part of being willing to forgive is so important, and it goes back to it, and

I just want to double down with you, which is why I'm stepping sort of on your toes for a second. That emphasis is interesting, because there's a lot of things in the prayer, right? Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, etc. There's a lot of things in the prayer. When Jesus finishes the model prayer, the only thing he pulls out to double down on is forgiveness.

It's a blocker. That's because it's a blocker. It is a legitimate, significant blocker. If you're unwilling to forgive, all of the other things that you have gone through in that prayer can literally be blocked and hindered as a result of your unwillingness to forgive, not because God doesn't want to forgive, and that's important to highlight, it's not because of something with God, but it's because of the burden you're carrying. How am I going to yield to the will of God, which is a part of. Prayer if I haven't yielded this forgiveness thing to the will of God. And so contextually, looking at the broader context of the story, here it is. Remember these individuals, they're under oppression, and they want to be delivered from oppression, and they do not like their oppressors. For good reason. Their oppressors are not burdened like they are. Their life's brew power. If we're at the top of the list, we're winning, you're losing. So they're not feeling the burden of, not of anything. There's nothing for them to feel like, Oh well, I'm gonna go in ahead and forgive you. It's like you want to overthrow us. Well, that's crazy, right? So that burden, that burden that they're carrying, is a burden that's blocking them. It's a burden that's hindering and hampering them, and God is like when you don't forgive, it blocks you.

So all of that political resentment, if they continue to hold onto that as they're hearing the teachings of Jesus, as they're wanting to follow in line with him. If they continue holding onto that resentment, it will short circuit.

How does God's will, how is God's will able to be done on earth as it is in heaven, if you're putting up this barrier from yielding to His will.

And like you had mentioned, looking at the storyline of what's happening here, this oppression, this hatred, runs deep. I mean, you're talking about, this was your property, this was your farm, and now they're, they're task masks or masters over you. They're ruling over you. And just, it's just a mess, right? And so this has gone on for years, and so this hatred is deep, and so Jesus is that now coming on the scene saying, My kingdom's not a physical kingdom, it's a spiritual kingdom, and it's an inside out Kingdom. The heart needs to be changed so that we can change other people's hearts, like the Romans, right? Just like I'm changing your hearts. And so he's he's doubling down, as you would be saying, on this forgiveness aspect, because it's a huge part of them being set free, and also the opportunity to set their enemy free, right? See, exactly, because this is the distinction between them just loving those who love them and loving their enemy. This is what makes them. Would make them the light of the world. This is what would make them the salt of the earth. This would would make them an army that was set into the world to conquer hatred, right? Because they experienced it themselves. So So Jesus is is laying home the point as as you have been forgiven, right? Amen, as you have been forgiven by God, reflect on your own sins, right, your own heart and the things you've done wrong. And God is willing to wipe that slate clean, right, right? You can't repay that debt, and he's willing to wipe it clean. Now he's saying, as a result of that, do the same to others,

right? So then there's this line from Jesus, well, I'm repeating what he's what we've already talked about For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, I'm just wondering, is there a correlation? Then, if I want to experience the depth of God's forgiveness, if I begin practicing more freely releasing others. Is there a correlation, then, that I may actually be able to experience more deeply the forgiveness of God for me, does that make sense? It's almost like Jesus puts it that way, if you forgive others, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. So is there a correlation, a sense in which my the if I seek to release others, to be more generous in my forgiveness, that my own heart is actually opening up to a deeper, more expansive experience of God's forgiveness of me, right? That makes sense. Well, I mean, that seems sort of that. That seems like the logic here in that.

Absolutely, um, and I think part of it too is because, um, you know, we spoke about in the last session how the importance of accepting God's forgiveness helps us to be able to realize that we can forgive ourselves, and then that opens up the door for us to be willing to forgive others. So I think the point you're making is a very, very valid one, that when we embrace forgiveness of others, we're opening the door for embracing forgiveness from God even more. It's almost like this reciprocal relationship. Overall, we don't embrace God's forgiveness. We struggle to forgive ourselves. We struggle to forgive ourselves because we're not embracing God's forgiveness, we're going to struggle to forgive others. And then that cycle basically just builds and builds. Embrace God. As forgiveness. When I raise forgiveness towards us becomes like, okay, you know what I've got, I've got debts too. I couldn't and I had to be forgiven those debts. Let me go on ahead and extend the same thing to someone else that has been extended to me.

I see it almost like a flower, right? You know, there's that initial opening where I've experienced, like the early rays of the sun, and I'm like, Oh, that's nice and warm. So I, as I extend forgiveness to others, it's like the petals are opening up and the board that reciprocal receiving, giving, living in the rhythm of that generous forgiveness that I'm opening my heart more and more to the warmth of God's love, right? And when I start reserving that, holding back, it's like, it's not like I can choose one. I'm just, I'm not going to close the petals up for this, but I'm going to close them to this. No, once I start holding back forgiveness, the whole, my whole capacity for receiving experience in God's love itself begins to tighten

back right. And again, the ground for forgiveness, right is how God has forgiven you. So if we forget that, then we get lost sight in, oh, what somebody's done to me or what I've done to you, and we get into this ugliness, where, when we, when we look at that ground of forgiveness, how we've been forgiven, then that becomes the standard, by our choices to forgive others, right? There's, there's this parable in Matthew chapter 18, and it says this, Jesus taught, it said, therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants, and he began to settle a man who owed him 10,000 bags of gold was brought to him, since he was not able to pay, the Master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. At this the servant fell on his knees before Him, be patient with me. He begged, and I'll pay back everything. The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

Wow. Okay, well, watch us about the story that there's a

but. But when the servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him 100 silver coins. So just to remember, he was forgiven. The man was forgiven 10,000 bags of gold, and now his fellow servant owed him. Where was it? 100 silver coins? So there's this huge contract, vast difference, right? So he grabs him, and he begins to choke him, hmm, pay back what you owe me. He demanded his fellow servant fell on his knees and begged him, be patient with me. I and I will pay you back. But he refused. And instead, he went off and he had the man thrown in the prison until he could pay his debt. When the oven servant saw it, of course, he goes back to the king, and then he ends up in trouble again.

So the king basically cancels, cancels the dude, initial forgiveness of 10,000 bags of gold, correct? Because this guy is throwing somebody in prison for a fraction of what he had, correct.

So, so here's a story he's telling, because this is real life, right? Let's face it, this is real life. When we get hurt, we have a tendency to just feel the hurt and see the hurt, right, and lose sight of the bigger picture, right? So Jesus tells this parable to reminds us the same principle that he was teaching in the prayer of the Our Father, unless you forgive, it cancels the forgiveness coming from God, right? It's not that God is angry with you, right? It's that your heart is no longer in harmony with the kingdom, right?

And that our our ability to receive the same, the same, basically the same, you might say, the same receptacle through which we receive God's love is the also the one through which our love to others flows, right? So if we close the flow, the outflow of love, we've closed the very means, the varied receptacle through which we receive love. So if I want to receive I got to be open for the outflow. Once I stop outflow, the inflow is also blocked because it's the same channel.

Okay, so let's get let's take it to the next level of saying. My first question is, forgiveness. Easy for us, no.

So I think there's two. I think there's two. I think some things, for instance, my wife and I have a great relationship, but maybe there's a job, something I asked her to pick up from the store, and she forgot so and this seems simple, but what happens is, we can, I can hold a little grudge, little, it's a little tiny. Was a small thing, but. Just a little resentment about how I wish my wife would remember that. So I like, I put it on like a little whiteboard in my mind, just this forgot. But what happens is, I keep chalking up those little ones, and all of a sudden I have a pretty big load. So the little piece of forgiveness is if I just release and just say, You know what? I'm not gonna, I'm just, I'm just gonna let that one go, just release it. Let and I think of it just literally. It's kind of letting a bird go. Just release that. I'm just not going to hold onto that. We keep that chalkboard in give a little things, right? Those are the little ones. I do think that there are other ones that are not I don't think I know that there are others that a single incident is like a knife in the back that's turned right? That's a whole different process, right? So that's where I would say there are the little ones that can become big if we let them accumulate and and then there are the ones that just all in themselves.

Yeah, let's talk about a spouse being unfaithful, right? A somebody being molested as a child, right? Somebody having a loved one murdered by somebody. You know, these are big things.

Well, that, I mean, that's, there's no way to even capture how big that is in a podcast like that's, that's devastating, right?

It is devastating. But when we're still talking about the principle of forgiveness, right, we want to talk about, perhaps, what we could consider a process, right? Yeah, we do this, right? Because you, like you mentioned, there's certain things that can be smaller that we choose to forgive, but then if they add up or or these bigger things we have still have to look at, you know, the process of people's pain, right, and getting to the point of forgiveness, because unforgiveness becomes, there's their slave, right, right? They end up being a slave the person who's been is holding it continues to write, right? I once saw a picture of it was, it was two people handcuffed together, and it was, you know, if you're forgiving and not forgiving, you're carrying that person around with you, right?

There's a fascinating story. I don't know if I shared on this podcast, but about it's an illustration. I think it's a true story, but I there's a woman, she's been abused for 20 years by her husband. The guy dies for 20 years. She thinks about and bemoans and grieves over the 20 years she experienced. She's just she's just bitter and angry every day 20 years after his death, for the 20 years before his death that she was miserable. So how many years did he abuse her? 40 for 40 years, the power of forgiveness is that we're able to release the offender and live our life rather than continuing the after trauma of the initial event.

So I guess to throw a question out there, what would you say to the audience who's listening? Because people can be listening and going through all kinds of of hurts and pains and resentment forgiveness, because this is big, right? This is why Jesus mentions it, because he knows, like you mentioned, that if this is clear, then the flow of God's love can continue, but if we're holding on, it can stop right right now, because God wants us to stop. It's just what's happening in our own heart. So what would be, what would say to people that are wrestling with forgiveness, right?

So I would say first that before answering that question, what we don't want to people to hear is that if I've experienced one of those devastating injuries and I'm not completely able to release it, then I'm just stuck and cannot experience God's love. No, if you're open to let God sort of crack that one open, you're continuing to receive His love, right? So, so let's not do an a black and white. Yes, there's the general principle with we refuse to forgive. We're closing the channel through which we receive God's forgiveness. But then there's the other piece that those tough ones, if we're willing to let God work on it, that means our heart is still as open as we can let it be, and so that channel still is alive. It's when we just refuse to go down there. So if we, in the slightest, are like, God, I can't let this one go, but I'm but I'm willing to let you take a stab at it. We're still in an open position. I think that's important to keep in mind, because those big ones, if I think that that any inability to step toward forgiveness is going to completely block my relationship with God, that itself could also be devastating. Well, I'm stuck. I can't let this go, and I can't be loved by God, so I might as well get right. We don't want anything like that to be going on, but even I mentioned some big ones, but even just little things in daily living, oftentimes people end up holding onto resentment.

They do. Yeah, right, right. Like family dynamics. I mean, you deal with, we're pastors, we deal with not only our own family at a broader spectrum, but you're also dealing with people in their families and and they see a lot of, oftentimes, bitterness and resentments and right in the family dynamics. So what would be the principles that we would want to say to people you're saying, Oh, if I hear you correctly, is remaining open to allowing God to work on you, right? And yes, a willingness. I once read this statement that says this that you, of your own self, cannot change your purposes, your desires, your inclinations, but if you're willing to be made, willing, God will accomplish this work for you. So it's a principle that I've used in my life, is going to God in prayer and say, Lord, I'm willing to be made willing make me willing to forgive, right, right?

I think in I think as long as we're willing to stay in dialog with God about it, there's there's potential for progress. It's when we just choose to just shut off and just wall off, then we're in trouble.

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So any other principle?

The first thing I want to say is it's definitely not a not always easy, and it's important to embrace that reality, that fact of life that forgiveness isn't necessarily always an easy thing, especially when we're dealing with situations that are we're traumatic, we're huge, we're big things like some of the things we have mentioned here, it's also important to highlight what forgiveness is not? Yeah, forgiveness is not reconciliation. You think forgiveness, forgiveness does not mean okay, now I've forgiven you. I'm gonna go on ahead and just open up the doors for you to go on ahead and be able to do the same thing to me again, putting up boundaries, putting up barriers, might very well be a necessary thing, sure, with some of the smaller things, you know more accidental, your wife forgets something at the store, right? Like those, don't let that become major issues. But when we're dealing with the bigger things, there might need to be a cut off from someone that has severely harmed us, right? The forgiveness element is basically us being willing to leave that person to God, I love that. And because there's not much we can do right, we can't go back and change what has happened. We cannot. We can't basically fix the situation ourselves. There's just a lot we can't do. What we can do is simply say, I'm not going to allow that person and that circumstance. And that's much easier to say than it is to actually do. And this is where God has to be the one who actually gives us the power to do it. But we basically have to be willing to say, I'm not going to let that person's behaviors and actions control my life. Not necessarily easy. It might be a journey. It might take time being willing to be opened up, even just for a glimpse of God, to be able to work in that's that's progress, that's a step, and we have to know and trust that God is going to help us. God is going to do the thing for us that just seems impossible for us, right?

It is impossible.

Merciful to us in the like, where we're struggling, where we're like, I just, I can't do this. Any good parent is going to be merciful towards Yeah, absolutely. And say, I'm going to do everything I can to release that burden off of you, right? Right?

Good. So going back to the prayer, Lord, Your will be done, and not my own, is a submissive, posture, right? So I'm coming to God saying, I know it's your desire for me to forgive, and I know this is going to to hollow it or holy your name represent your name, right? Because I'm honoring who you are and and what you are. So here I am. I'm choosing to put myself in your hand. Hands, take this heart of mine, right, and change it, right, right? Yeah, that's the best spot to me to be in, because you have your own self. Like Jesus said, You Without me, you can do nothing, right, right? So we can't, but he can, right? That's the beautiful part. I mean, the fact, when he's saying Love your enemies, right? I mean, what identifies us as children of God, is a different type of love, right, right? What, what? And then the big picture is also, perhaps the redemption of the offender, the person who's offended you that you're actually doing that. I'm sure you probably heard the story.

Two more pieces to this, and then I want to go to a story. Yeah, the two pieces is, forgiveness, is, is is does not forgiveness does not mean that I don't follow through with necessary repercussions. Repercussions to the injury, right? So forgiveness is not me, not prosecuting in a legal sense, releasing that person, releasing the resentment in my heart. But if there are appropriate consequences for their actions, I can participate in those while simultaneously forgiving. Absolutely. Forgiveness is also not a justification of what happened, right? Forgiving. It does not say that it was okay, right? That's not the same thing and and the other piece is that forgiveness is unilateral. I don't need anybody to apologize to me. I don't need anybody to say they were wrong. Forgiveness is me of myself choosing to release that reason. I mean, not of myself on my own like this. Is God allowing me to do that, granting me strength to do that. But forgiveness is entirely something that I do, me and God do, whether that person is ever aware of what they did to me, or ever sorry for it, or ever admits it, I can still fully forgive. I think that's important, that forgiveness can take place with me and myself and the other person doesn't need to know for me to go through the steps of experiencing release from resentment.

I think again, whatever we're facing in life, prayer is God's invitation to come and pour out our hearts before. So if we're struggling with not forgiving somebody, go to God. Don't run from God, go to God. He's your father. Because you run from God, you're only going to get more entangled, because more things will play over in your mind, and it'll just play over. You'll lose sleep over it, and it'll it'll just wrap you. That's the way the devil wants. He just wants to wrap you in it, to hold you a prisoner, and your father wants to set you free, right? So coming to your father with this willingness saying, God, I'm willing to make, willing change my heart, you know, make it like yours.

But I've been learning more on that. I've just honestly growing in that more where I have tended less to run from God with whatever thing I'm dealing with and lean in. It's, it's something I'm still learning?

And what's this holy place? Exactly, safe place. The other thing that I want to mention to you is in that is to do some self reflection, right? Take time out to remember how much God has forgiven you, right? You know, I'm saying it's humbling. Yeah, it's humbling when we think of God never abandoned me, even when I had like abandoned him, and that Jesus died for me so that my sins might be forgiven and so that everyone's sins might be forgiven. So by me choosing to forgive and reframing the situation and and that reframing and seeing God. I open. I'm opening my heart to God, working on me, but then also reframing the person that I'm struggling with. Yeah, right, reframing the situation, right?

Absolutely, realizing the brokenness of this world, the brokenness of each of us, and the fact that broken people hurt people, amen, it's just a sad and unfortunate reality of life, right? Like broken people hurt people. Amen. We have hurt people, maybe not to the magnitudes that some have hurt us. That's okay, but realize we have hurt people, and God has forgiven us for those things we have done, and someone may have severely hurt you, and it's not necessarily easy to let go of that, but yet leave that person and what they have done with God so you don't have to carry an unnecessary burden around that just simply holds you back.

That's good. And remember the story. But you remember the story in Matthew chapter 18, the that the first servant owed his the king, this huge debt that's us to God, right? That our debt is huge, and our debt towards each other. For whatever we do to each other is actually small, right? So, reframing and really processing the fact that reality is that my sins against God are much bigger than anything anybody can do to me. That's the reality of the story, right? So, so reframing and saying, God, I'm choosing to forgive right? I share with you guys the story of Corey 10 Boom, who was in World War Two and in the concentration camps and and just the horrible abuse that they went through, and the starvation and and being raped by the guards. And her sister ended up not only being raped by the guards, but being killed by the guard. And then after the war was over, Corey had given her heart to Lord, and she was wanting to tell the world about this God who she knew, and tell the world about the Jesus story. And so she was preaching back to in the area of where the concentration camps were, and she made this, what we call an altar call, where you're where you're, inviting people to come up front to where you are, wherever you're publicly speaking, and accept Jesus as your savior, so that your sins are forgiven. Well down the aisle walk the guy who had raped and murdered her sister. He didn't know who she was, but she knew who he was, because she wouldn't forget. And she said all of her feelings just were stirring in the anger and the hatred felt like they were just stirring. And then, as he was coming down, and he stuck out his hand, saying he wanted to accept Jesus as the Savior, she prayed in her mind as she was there, and she said, Lord, I'm choosing to forgive. And then she reached out her end, she said, as she did that all those feelings went away, she made a choice, and God provided the victory in her heart, and she embraced the guy, right? So I don't want to underestimate the power of choice. The greatest weapon we all have in our corner is the power of choice. So when we choose to put our decisions on God's side or our will on God's sides, we're allowing him to empower us with what he wants to empower us with, simply because we made a choice. And I think we need to remember forgiveness is a choice. Don't consult your feelings. Consult what God has the same that's awesome.

I have a quote from Corey 10. Boom, no. Forgiveness is the key that unlocks the door of resentment and the handcuffs of hatred. It is a power that breaks the chains of bitterness and the shackles of selfishness. Wow. Could you read that again? Forgiveness is the key that unlocks the door of resentment and the handcuffs of hatred. It is a power that breaks the chains of bitterness and the shackles of selfishness.

Apply that, not only to our lives, but apply that back into the day of Jesus on the side of the mountain, talking to those people about forgiving the Romans, right, right, that that was the shackles that would be broken. Was not necessarily their oppression, oppression from the physical Roman army, but their hearts, right. Right?

Right, they were in oppression inside, as much as they may have said or more, right?

So forgiveness is setting it free.

That's awesome. There's one more step that I just one, one step I'd love to share. It's from a worksheet I use in group in my work in chaplaincy, and it's a fascinating step. It's this step of basically, it's, it's this multi step process to forgiveness, and you start the process moving towards forgiveness, but you're not committed to forgiving. There's this step in the middle where you, you make the decision whether or not to continue forgiving, and you do it in part by reflecting on what would your life look like if you forgave this person. So it's this, it's, it's, it's kind of a practical step where we were, instead of, you know, from the outset and saying, Okay, I'm committing to forgiveness, we just say from the outset, I'm committed to the possibility, knowing that I'm going to have a pause in the middle where I evaluate the pros and cons of extending forgiveness, and it can kind of help us allow God and ourselves to let the ball start moving, because we're not committing from from the start line, we're just committing to start the process, and then we ask God to be in that presence of helping us. God help me to see how releasing this into your hands will help me experience freedom. So it's kind of a way to again, let the motion start, because I'm not. Afraid that I'm sort of full in I'm just letting it start. Because there's a there's an out for me. If I want to take it, it's beautiful, and that out makes it easier to start, and also easier, like, let it keep going. I like it.

Envisioning what your life would be like if you forget, if you forget. Right?

Right, knowing that I can choose not to right now, and you got a choice, where's the bar, right? And you end up with a choice, right? So a couple more lights. Did you have something else?

Well, I just want to say, and I'm throwing this question out there, how do you think Jesus hanging on the cross can look down at those who put him there and say, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

That second part is so powerful. Weren't you kind of getting at that earlier a little bit?

Yes, they don't know what they're doing, like I won't. I don't want to use the term easy, because I this is just not something that's easy. It's just not that's just the reality, but it's more doable, I would say, once you can actually do a reasonable reflection and realize that people do things a lot of times in ignorance and not realizing how impactful their decisions and their choices are. And Jesus realized at that moment, while he's hanging on the cross that the people who put him there, truth be told, a lot of them thought they were doing the right thing. It thought they were doing a good thing. They had no clue what they're doing. And he literally what he did at that moment was he basically said, Lord, I'm surrendering them to you, and I'm not going to carry the burden of what they have done to me on me. We can only pray and ask the Lord to give us the ability to do the same.

Amen. Yeah, that is awesome. That's beautiful. And you know it was he was having pity, right? Really pity on them, because the nature of sin. And when we talk about sin again, we're talking about living outside the framework of God's ways, right? That it puts blinders on us, not physically eyes, but our minds become darkened, right? And so then we end up doing things and living in ways that we wish we didn't. You know, right? Yes, you know, there's a little saying that sin will bring you to places where you don't want to go. It'll, it'll keep you there longer than you want to stay, and you'll pay a price more than you want to pay, right? So it's just, just the nature of disobedience, and the devil wants to pull us all down those roads and lock us in, right? And so Jesus is looking down and he's pitying these people that were in such darkness that their hearts were wrapped in hatred, and he exercised the attributes of his father and forgiveness, and that's the same what he wants to do for us. The beautiful part is that that he wants to give us the heart to do the same, right?

So does that mean that God can help me to reflect on the offender and start to see, maybe it's reflecting on their childhood. What was life action like for this? Right? It's reframing, right? What, what might have been their motives, was it totally dark and evil, like it looks like were the so? So Can, can that possibility? In fact, this is in well, this is one of the steps in the process I mentioned, reflecting and opening ours to the possibility of feeling compassion for the offender, right, not justifying the act. It's still bad and horrible. Whatever it was is still what it was. But I love this idea that that, you know, while the process that I use in group is is a secular process, Jesus takes it to a whole nother level, where, on the cross, God's love is coming through, and he's demonstrating compassion toward offenders like so a move of moving in compassion toward the offender, not necessarily reconciling with the offender, but a heart, a heart posture of compassion is actually a God thing, to allow God to awaken in my heart, a compassion that, like Jesus says, Boy, they really didn't know What they were doing. They were really set up to take that course toward me because of such and such. Doesn't make it right. But again, that compassion of saying, Wow, yeah.

So remembering the quote from Corey 10, boom, that forgiveness releases. Mm. Is, right? It breaks the chains. Yes, it just sets us free. It does so if you're listening today, we just want to encourage you that whatever you might be struggling with today or even tomorrow, because we're all human beings, and we were here with you, that choosing to forgive will set you free. You'll find freedom, and then the big picture to choose to be a child and a follower of God is that He wants to work on the heart of the person you forgave, right? Because the big picture is that we all go to heaven together. And that's what he was calling those people, sorry. That's what he was calling that's what he was calling those people that day, right? Teaching them in to become the part of the army. That's what he's called us to do. Be hard, the army of God, to conquer hatred with love, right? And that love will win in the end, because that's who God is. God will win in the end, yeah, don't allow hatred. Don't allow bitterness and resentment to take you and make you a slave. Choose the move beautiful.

So see experience, live. What do we see in this God?

I see God empowering us to do something we can't do ourselves. Well, that's beautiful!

Amen.

This is a God thing, the whole forgiveness thing. It's a God thing, start to finish. Pretty much sure there's a choice I have to make outside of that choice, everything else is 100% dependent on that.

That's awesome. And what I see is also what you mentioned. God shows the way, like in human skin, in you know, as a human on the cross, he shows he like leads the chart. That's not the right way to put it, but he shows the way he exemplifies the epitome of forgiveness. What about experience? I think you were kind of getting there, but I don't know if we want to add anything else to experience.

For me, experience is we've all experienced forgiveness like we have experienced forgiveness from God. We've experienced forgiveness from others like we have, we have debts that we have not been able to repay, and we have experienced forgiveness for those debts. We've experienced it practically in our lives. We've experienced it spiritually from God. And so that is an experience that we have, and therefore it is even more reason why it's an experience we should basically give towards others. And that would be the live.

Yeah, those three. Well, I think that both of you have said it so well, I'm just going to say.

And so I've mentioned in the past episodes about coaching, and I want to really hold that out to you, this struggle to forgive can be one of those things where having somebody to walk the road with you can be life changing. So I just want to highlight one of the resources. One of our core resources is spiritual wellness coaching. This is one of those areas where we support a person as a coach in standing beside you in the pain in the darkness, and helping you hold onto that light and hope that God can help you release the resentment and that God can bring healing in the cavern, the chasm of your pain, that we can stand there is a witness to what God can do and is doing and help you take those steps. So if you would like to engage our coaching resources, they're crowdfunded, so we don't charge you for our coaching time. You can connect with a coach at loveshaped.life/coaching. Hit that subscribe button. Follow us, share with a friend if you found this episode helpful, and until next time, lean into the love-shaped life. Thank you so much for tuning in to the Loveshaped Life podcast. We hope you find this podcast not only inspirational, but life changing. Here at Loveshaped Life, we're working to create a community, an online community, in fact, where individuals like you can connect with each other and lean into God's love together.

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