It’s like talking to a man who has brushfires all in his room (i.e. someone dealing with masturbation/lust issues for example). The brush fire is more than enough of a problem to handle……and He is so busy trying to stamp out the fires since they’re so glaring that he’s distracted trying to fight that battle…..and sadly, he or she is still unware that their ENTIRE ROOM is a mess in other places (i.e. dealing with other sins such as selfishness, reckless anger, lack of compassion on others, etc).

Brother this is the Christian life, many things we will fight to the grave, other things the Gracious God of the world will give us victory. The day you stop struggling with sin, you are dead are in the prescence of the Lamb. That is why Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 9

24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Daily we have to keep our bodies under control, daily we have to renew our minds, daily we have to seek refuge in Christ, daily we have to armor up. Hopefully you won’t be struggling in so many areas at once, hopefully there are victories in that you don’t have to put out fires on the roof while the living room is burning up. But even in your victories that doesn’t mean that these will not come back to pursue you again. Sin is relentless in its pursuit to devour!

Again, to clarify, I’m not saying “WAIT UNTIL YOU “FEEL” LIKE DOING SOMETHING BEFORE DOING IT”. Trust me on that.

What I am saying is that it’s simply a bit of an annoyance when you know what the Word says, have prayed about it, and are dilligently seeking to put it into practice but you still feel as if it’s not genuine. It’s simply frustrating….and quite frankly, discouraging. I didn’t say “When I feel like forgiving/sacrificing like Christ did, then I’d do it”….otherwise, I’d be in disobediance to the Word of God. But let’s be Real, even when you’re genuinely praying for it to be sincere (like it says in Matthew 18 with the UNMERCIFUL SERVANT who had to forgive from his heart), it can be confusing wondering “So how long do I keep this up hoping this is real and knowing that I’m more than willing to submit to the Scriptures and yet it still feels like a full scale battle inside and I don’t know when I’ll be able to be at peace knowing I have victory?”

It’s like talking to a man who has brushfires all in his room (i.e. someone dealing with masturbation/lust issues for example). The brush fire is more than enough of a problem to handle……and He is so busy trying to stamp out the fires since they’re so glaring that he’s distracted trying to fight that battle…..and sadly, he or she is still unware that their ENTIRE ROOM is a mess in other places (i.e. dealing with other sins such as selfishness, reckless anger, lack of compassion on others, etc).

That is exactly what I am saying. If you don’t feel it do it anyway and pray for the feeling (if that is even needed). Obedience is the key brother. If someone rapes you and you face them in the court of law you forgiving them is a positional thing. For example you may not feel saved one day, especially after a grave sin has been committed. Your feelings have no bearing (it the short run) on your positional sanctification before the Lord. It is a forensic act that a feeling may not immediately accompany. However eventually it will. So that is exactly what I am saying. There may be an attractive woman that I am attracted to. Being married however, I am commanded not to lust and definitely not to pursue my feeling. Now my feeling may be to pursue but I know the clear commands of the scriptures.

So if you feel like it is “a lie” then the problem could be on the clear commands of the scriptures and your willingness to submit to them. So we do a lot of things that we may not feel like doing because we want to be obedient to the one who called us.

Nice to hear your thoughts, Brah. However (and I pray you don’t take this the wrong way as if I’m trying to attack you), Regarding your thoughts on forgiveness, it seems that what you’re advocating is similar to something I used to hear in many word of faith churches:

“If you don’t feel it, FAITH IT”

This was the phrase I often heard whenever one was having a bad day or not feeling up to genuinely doing what the Lord wanted them to do. If you were feeling down but knew you had to rejoice like the Word says (Philippians 4:1-4), then you did it and just hoped that eventually you’d be sincere in it. Can’t tell you how many times that frustrated me, as I often tried to do just that but still felt as if I was living a LIE and trying to make believe.

As for forgiveness, it can be a matter of personal sacrifice to extend forgiveness where there is not yet any repentance or contrition. This is as it should be, for such is the pattern of Christ. The goal should always be reconciliation in love without compromise of the truth (for there is no reconciliation without love, no love without truth and no truth without holiness).