August 17th, 2022

Forgive Because We're Forgiven

Luke 6:37 NIV

"Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven."

      Yesterday I talked about forgiveness but regarding being the one who has not been fully forgiven. Today, I want to talk about forgiveness, but regarding being the person harboring the unforgiveness. It's hard when someone does you wrong. Believe me, I've been there. But what's really hard is when someone really hurts you, however that may look in your life, and now you-being a Christian-are faced with having to forgive that person. In these situations that were faced with, it always seems easier to say that we've forgiven our perpetrators, but revoke said forgiveness when they do something to cross you again (even in the smallest of crimes). 

      But here's the thing, when we forgive, we must truly forgive if we want to be forgiven ourselves. If not for our offender's sake, but for ourselves. Here's why: why should Jesus forgive us if we can't forgive one another fully? And while we're only human and cannot perfectly forgive the way Jesus does, we cannot hide behind the excuse of being human; we have to try. Just as Jesus made it clear to the Pharisees in John 8, as we discussed yesterday, we are not without sin. People mess up and we're going to get hurt from time to time, but we are no better than our offenders because we too sin. And when we choose to harbor unforgiveness, we are committing a sin far greater than the one our friend, family member, co-worker, etc... committed against us.

If you're looking for ideas on how to forgive, turn to the Gospel and ask God to open your eyes to ways to forgive just as He has forgiven us.