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with God
Col 3:13
bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.
"I'm sorry I did that to you."
"I apologize for the wrong I did to you"
Two words that the Lord does not ask us to say to Him, "I'm Sorry" and "I apologize" , yet words we demand of those who have done us wrong.
Yet God does not tell us to come and apologize to Him or tell Him that we are sorry for our sins.
So what is the correct term to use then, according to the bible?
forgiving one another
Asking for "forgiveness" would be the correct term. You see, when we say that we are sorry or I apologize, the way the world uses it, we are saying in a sense "Oh man, I got caught" but there are no words of repentance in our apologizes. It's like a child who gets caught with their hand in the cookie jar; they will say that they are sorry to avoid the consequences of their wrong. But in reality they are not, because as soon as our backs are turned, their little hands are right back in the cookie jar.
But when you say, "forgive me" in the sense that the bible is speaking of, you are acknowledging that what you did was wrong and plan NOT to do it again, which the bible calls repentance.
But there is also another side to this coin, and that's how we are to respond to those who truly ask our forgiveness.
even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.
To forgive as Christ forgave is to totally forget it like it never happened. This means not allowing it to fester inside of you, or even use it against the person at another time (Something married couples do a lot of).
If you think about it, just because you sinned today and asked the Lord to forgive you, does Jesus treat you any different then He did yesterday? Of course not, because when the Lord forgives, He doesn't bring it up again and doesn't use it against us.
forgiving one another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.
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