{"id":353253,"date":"2026-10-15T12:19:36","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T16:19:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/?p=353253"},"modified":"2026-10-15T12:20:18","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T16:20:18","slug":"forgiveness-is-part-of-the-sacrifice-that-pleases-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/post\/forgiveness-is-part-of-the-sacrifice-that-pleases-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Forgiveness Is Part of the Sacrifice That Pleases God"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"border-left: 7px solid #365b81; height: 25%; padding: 21px;\"><big>Giving an offering at the Altar may seem easier than forgiving someone who has caused us pain. However, forgiveness is part of the surrender God expects from those who believe in Him. In the message this Wednesday (October 14), <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.universal.org\/en\/bispo-macedo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bishop Macedo<\/a><\/span> explained why holding on to resentment compromises this surrender and how to act even when we do not feel like forgiving.<\/big><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Sacrifice Involves Behavior<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Reflecting on the words of the apostle Paul, the bishop emphasized that sacrifice goes beyond a financial contribution:<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote style=\"background-color: #f2f8fc; padding: 2em; border-left: 5px solid #ccc; margin: 1em 0;\"><p>I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. (Romans 12:1)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\nThis surrender involves our <strong>everyday actions<\/strong>. Therefore, living sincerely, doing good, and forgiving others are ways to honor God.<\/p>\n<p>Likewise, the request <strong>\u201cHallowed be Your name\u201d<\/strong> in the <strong>Lord\u2019s Prayer<\/strong> (Matthew 6:9) must be reflected in the behavior of those who pray. According to the bishop, people should recognize a Christian person&#8217;s faith by <strong>the way this person lives<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>However, <strong>holding on to resentment<\/strong> while presenting an offering at the Altar contradicts this surrender. To explain this, he quoted the <strong>Lord Jesus<\/strong>\u2019 instruction:<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote style=\"background-color: #f2f8fc; padding: 2em; border-left: 5px solid #ccc; margin: 1em 0;\"><p>Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. (Matthew 5:23\u201324)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4><strong>How Can You Forgive When You Don\u2019t Feel Like It?<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>The bishop instructed people <strong>to pray for those who have offended them<\/strong>, asking God to bless them, even when their hearts still resist.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"background-color: #f2f8fc;\">\u201cForgiveness is not a matter of feelings; it is a sacrifice,\u201d<\/span> he stated.<\/p>\n<p>Therefore, a person does not need to wait until they feel like forgiving before taking action. By wishing good for someone who has wronged them, they go against their own feelings in order to <strong>obey the Word of God<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, the bishop warned that resentment prevents a person from receiving the Holy Spirit. For this reason, he emphasized that the decision to forgive <strong>should not be put off<\/strong>.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Watch the Full Message to Learn More About This Teaching<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/1236247015?h=2f8e08024e&amp;badge=0&amp;autopause=0&amp;player_id=0&amp;app_id=58479\" width=\"352\" height=\"640\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" title=\"A Foolish Faith Does Not Forgive, but Intelligent Faith Does\u2026\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; &nbsp; Giving an offering at the Altar may seem easier than forgiving someone who has caused us pain. However, forgiveness is part of the surrender God expects from those who believe in Him. In the message this Wednesday (October 14), Bishop Macedo explained why holding on to resentment compromises this surrender and how to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":248,"featured_media":353256,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[323],"tags":[6245,6223],"site":[],"class_list":["post-353253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-a-school-of-faith","tag-bishop-macedo","tag-meditation"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/248"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=353253"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353253\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":353257,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353253\/revisions\/353257"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/353256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353253"},{"taxonomy":"site","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/site?post=353253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}