On How We Should All Forgive Freely
“So why not let’s forgive everyone, everywhere, everything?” (mewithoutyou)
Why are we as a people so reluctant to forgive?
Scratch that, I already know why. I’m far more interested in pursuing forgiveness as an alternative than getting lost in a debate on how entitled we are or are not to our hurts and resentments and bitterness. I know you’re wounded. I realize you’ve been offended. I recognize that your pain is very real and very deep. And truthfully and fairly, I would probably agree that you have a right to feel the way that you do.
But then there’s the way of forgiveness.
Unfortunately there’s been a pretty poor attempt in defining this thing we call forgiveness. I’ve heard sermons, read books, listened to everyone’s ideas of the when and the why and I gotta admit, it’s vague. We kind of leave it in the background, just below the surface, aware of it’s existence but not really deciding on how it should be used. This is the case for many of us, we avoid forgiveness because it’s easier and demands little. Yet, avoiding the depth and scope of the way of forgiveness has stripped it of its power in the church today.
The troubling thing about the nature of forgiveness is that it’s simply too demanding. It costs us something very important; our justice.
We all want to see people get what they deserve. What’s coming to them. It’s human to want justice for wrongs. It’s human to hold on to offenses. Karma is an incredibly human creation. Our struggle with forgiveness is that it’s just so un-human.
Which is why we need a similarly un-human example to learn this from.
In Colossians, Paul writes, “…and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the LORD has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.” As the LORD has…so you also must. As the LORD has forgiven us so we also must forgive others in the same way. We are called to forgive the same way God has forgiven us. The word “forgive” in the Greek essentially means to freely give pardon, rescue, or deliverance from what is deserved. It stems from the word for graciousness, as the divine influence upon the human heart.
Forgiveness comes from the divine influence upon the human heart.
The scope and ability of your forgiveness for others stems from how you choose to interpret the scope and ability of the forgiveness that you have received from God. “When we realize that we are all sinners needing forgiveness, it will be easy for us to forgive others. We have to be forgiven in order to be able to forgive.” (Mother Teresa)
As the daily realization and acceptance of God’s great grace and ongoing forgiveness transforms my heart, I am compelled to to say yes to the powerful and transforming nature of continual and freely given forgiveness to those who have wronged or hurt me.
