The Forgiveness of the Father's Love
Greeting, brothers and sisters. This is Dr. James Perry continuing with our series where we seek to
explore the deeper meanings of our relationship with Jesus Christ. Over the years, the heavenly
Father has revealed many revelations of spiritual truth to me, and I want to share them with you. This
morning we ponder the meaning of the forgiveness of the Father's Love.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
The Forgiveness of the Father's Love
"And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." Matthew, Chapter 6, Verse 12.
Brothers and sisters, to be done wrong is a very painful and sorrowful experience. This kind of
experience robs life of its joy and happiness. It creates an injury within our souls. Often when we are
done wrong, the hurt and the pain lasts a very long time. This hurt may color the whole life
experience, often coloring it with hues of sadness and bitterness.
To do wrong to an individual is likewise a very painful and sorrowful experience, even though it may
not be recognized as such initially. To wrong another is to basically wrong our own souls. In all
moral beings who wrong others, there is a consciousness of that wrong that cannot be ignored, and
neither can it be successfully rationalized nor justified, for the consciousness of wrong is covered
by a very thin layer of forgetfulness that is constantly being eroded by the acid of justice.
Both of these states require active processes to be resolved. In order to be relieved of the pain and
suffering of being wronged, we must forgive the wrongdoer. By doing this, we remove the attitude
of being wronged from our souls and our consciousness. By forgiving others, even though they may
not request or acknowledge the forgiveness, we remove the consciousness of ill will from our souls
and replace it with the consciousness of good will. Thus it is seen that no one can control our attitude
towards life except us. By having a constant attitude of forgiveness in our souls, the injuries that we
receive as a result of wrong treatment never accrue, and our souls remain conscious of love.
If we are guilty of wrongdoing, in order that we may clear our souls and consciousness of
wrongdoing, we must first repent, then seek forgiveness for the wrong that we are guilty of
committing. Finally we must forgive those who have wronged us. To repent is essentially to
recognize the wrongness of the wrong, not the mere fact that an act is wrong. To acknowledge
merely the fact is to ignore the truth and only implies remorse and regret over the consequences of
the act.
This failure to recognize the wrongness of a wrong--that is, to recognize truly why an act is wrong--
leads to the act being repeated since the basic attitude toward the act remains unchanged. To
recognize the wrongness or the truth of the wrongness is to change our attitude toward the misdeed.
This attitude is not only concerned with the remorse and regret over the consequences, but also with
the motive that led to perpetuating the act in the first place. The attitude of true repentance
recognizes the error in choosing the particular act and would like to have this error replaced by the
true attitude.
The next step is to seek forgiveness for the error and truth-deficient attitude. Seeking forgiveness is
essentially a request to have the erroneous attitude destroyed and a truth attitude created. Seeking
forgiveness would not have a thicker layer of forgetfulness applied to the consciousness of
wrongdoing, but would actually have the consciousness of wrongdoing destroyed. The consciousness
of wrongdoing cannot be removed until the deeper layer of wrong done to the wrongdoer is removed.
This is accomplished by forgiving others. When this is done, forgiveness becomes a reality.
But how do we develop the ability to forgive wrongs done to our souls and the insight into the
wrongness of wrong deeds? The ability to forgive and receive forgiveness and the development of
insight come as a result of pursuing divine love. Only divine love can perceive immaturity of attitude
and immaturity of motive in wrongdoers. Only divine love can perceive the value of maturity. Only
divine love can unify the past performances of immaturity with the unrealized future achievements
of mature performances so that the attitude, the motive, and the acts of a wrongdoer are evaluated
in terms of eternity rather than in temporal terms.
Through the sincere pursuit of truth, beauty, and goodness, error, ugliness, and evil are swallowed
up in the infinity and eternity of love. Individuals with immature attitudes are treated like small
children, who must grow and develop. Growth and development will bring about the consciousness
of love and with it the desire and attitude to be helpful rather than harmful. With love comes the
insight and power to forgive, for we, the sons and daughters of the Father, do not hold a grudge
against an immature child just because--out of ignorance and weakness--it does something to hurt
us.
This concludes today's message on the meaning of the forgiveness of the Father's love. We hope you
find something in this message to ponder and pray about as you go about your day. Until next time,
this is Dr. James Perry.
Inspirational Messages
By Dr. James Perry
Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done!
The Forgiveness of the Father's Love
