Wednesday, December 30, 2009

unpacking forgiveness review

Chapter 5 of Chris Brauns' Unpacking Forgiveness begins with a handy summary of the book thus far.
  • Christians accept Jesus' invitation to find rest by actively taking his yoke upon themselves and learning from him. If you are burdened with the baggage of broken relationships, then know this: rest will be found when, in an ongoing process, you immerse yourself in the Word, involve yourself in a local church, pray, and worship. Forgiveness is unpacked by following Jesus.
  • The basic motivation for unpacking forgiveness is to glorify our God and maximize our joy. Don't approach living out Christian forgiveness with a sense of dread. God will be most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in him. Be excited to live for Christ. There is nothing better.
  • The foundational principle for understanding forgiveness is that Christians are call to forgive others as God forgave them. God's forgiveness is a commitment by the one true God to pardon graciously those who repent and believe so that they are reconciled to him, although not all consequences are eliminated.
  • Therefore Christian forgiveness is a commitment by the offended to pardon graciously the repentant from moral liability and to be reconciled to that person, although not all consequences are necessarily eliminated. Christian forgiveness must be gracious, but it is not automatic. Christian forgiveness values reconciliation, but it does not negate the reality of consequences.
So far, so good.

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2 comments:

Chris said...

Thanks for posting this. I trust that you had a Merry Christmas. It's snowing here in Northern Illinois.

That's a pretty impressive changing picture thing happening over there on the side of your blog!

ricki said...

Chris - I love how your book articulates these foundational truths. I helped a friend today through some pain and found having your book fresh on my mind helped formulate what she needed to hear. Thanks for your sacrifice to make this available to folks like me who often spend too much time searching for the words.

reftagger