Normally, I’m not so bold to share things like this – I still find myself woefully ignorant on scripture and at times I find myself outside the “mainstream” school of thought, like in this instance. It’s good to know there is a valid reference to this kind of forgiveness in scripture.

That was the extreme short version of the story – forgiveness was one of many lessons that God brought to fruition during that time.

I agree, forgiving is what we always have to do, regardless of what the other person does. Because forgiveness means letting go of wrath yourself, handing the judgment over to God.

You did not only forgive, you also turned the other cheeck, and that is a step further on.

But the thing is, you could do this after you had reaffirmed your faith in Christ, and God gave you the power to do forgive, and to turn the other cheeck.
So you are someone who can preach this, turn the other cheeck, because you have experienced this yourself, with God’s grace.
What I believe is thi: unless you have experienced it yourself you cannot preach it. So if I have not turned the other cheeck to my enemy, I cannot tell someone else to do just that.

But you have experienced it! And so you can teach others. But only in the love of God. Because you went looking for God in your troubles, and found Him again, and He filled you with love and faith, and the resistance to be able to turn the other cheeck.

Thanks so much for your sharing.

I’m curious about opinions on this subject. One of the examples was of Jesus asking forgiveness for those that didn’t understand what they were doing, “Father forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). They didn’t ask for forgiveness, He asked for it anyway. Shouldn’t we use that as an example that there are times when we should forgive even when the person doesn’t ask for it?

God blessed me with a forgiving nature, there’s only been one time in my life that I truly had to work at forgiving someone. He didn’t ask for it, but I kept turning the other cheek – over and over and over. To top it off, he wasn’t even a Christian. He took my home, two of my children, my life as I knew it with lies and deceit. Like many other’s it took this extremely dark period of life for me to turn back to God – I had seriously strayed. Until I reaffirmed my faith in Him, I wasn’t able to forgive my husband at the time for what he was doing. Then, I started to pray for him and forgave him. Almost a year later, he was diagnosed with cancer. Six months after that, we were friends and he had found his own faith. At that point, he asked me to forgive him. Six months after that, he passed into God’s arms.

Many people, fellow Christians included, didn’t understand how I could forgive him. Some even told me it wasn’t Biblical. I disagree and I think the passage from Luke bears me out. Until this evening, I didn’t have an answer, except that God moved me to forgive and gave me the strength to be able to do it, I certainly didn’t do it myself. Am I way off base, or is Luke 23:34 a valid example of forgiving someone without being asked by him for the forgiveness?

Psalm 91:
14 “Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

15 He will call upon me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.

C.H. Spurgeon evening meditation,november 27
“The forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.” Ephesians 1:7
Could there be a sweeter word in any language than that word “forgiveness,” when it sounds in a guilty sinner’s ear, like the silver notes of jubilee to the captive Israelite? Blessed, forever blessed be that dear star of pardon which shines into the condemned cell, and gives the perishing a gleam of hope amid the midnight of despair! Can it be possible that sin, such sin as mine, can be forgiven, forgiven altogether, and forever? Hell is my portion as a sinner—there is no possibility of my escaping from it while sin remains upon me—can the load of guilt be uplifted, the crimson stain removed? Can the adamantine stones of my prison-house ever be loosed from their mortices, or the doors be lifted from their hinges? Jesus tells me that I may yet be clear. Forever blessed be the revelation of atoning love which not only tells me that pardon is possible, but that it is secured to all who rest in Jesus. I have believed in the appointed propitiation, even Jesus crucified, and therefore my sins are at this moment, and forever, forgiven by virtue of his substitutionary pains and death. What joy is this! What bliss to be a perfectly pardoned soul! My soul dedicates all her powers to him who of his own unpurchased love became my surety, and wrought out for me redemption through his blood. What riches of grace does free forgiveness exhibit! To forgive at all, to forgive fully, to forgive freely, to forgive forever! Here is a constellation of wonders; and when I think of how great my sins were, how dear were the precious drops which cleansed me from them, and how gracious was the method by which pardon was sealed home to me, I am in a maze of wondering worshipping affection. I bow before the throne which absolves me, I clasp the cross which delivers me, I serve henceforth all my days the Incarnate God, through whom I am this night a pardoned soul.