Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. – Ephesians 4:32
Psychologists say forgiveness is letting go of your right to resentment or anger against someone who may have wronged you. It is a conscious and deliberate act. On the human scale, forgiveness is not suggesting that what has been committed is excused, or even that it is tolerable. In his book, When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Rabbi Harold Kushner suggests you should forgive but remember… so that you would be alert, lest the same wrong is done to you again. A quote often attributed to St. Augustine says that failure to forgive or holding onto resentment is “like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.”
Thankfully, God’s forgiveness is not like any of those. Psalm 103:12 says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” Hebrews 8:12 says that God forgives your sins and remembers them no more. What compassionate forgiveness that is! God expects the same from you as today’s verse says. It is a difficult undertaking that can only be accomplished through the grace of God working in and through you.
Your life is a reflection of Jesus and His Gospel. Freely love. Freely forgive.
Comments