Forgiveness

Ephesians 4:31-32

New International Version (NIV)

Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

While I was driving in the car today, I was listening to KLove as they talked about a pretty touchy subject. Ironically, half way across the country, my best friend was listening to the same station and the same message as I was. When I talked to my best friend today, before writing this entry, she recommended that I write a post about the message that we both heard earlier today: the message of forgiveness.

The funny thing about forgiveness is that we desperately want it when we mess up and make mistakes. On the flip side, if we are being negatively impacted by other peoples' mistakes, we don't want to think about forgiveness. Why is it that we expect God to forgive us when we can't even forgive our brother? Shouldn't we treat others the way we want to be treated? The only answer I can come up with is that it is hard to forgive others.

For those who think like I think, you may not be able to come up with anyone whom you haven't already forgiven. To these people, I'd like to bring up a name. What comes to your mind when you hear the name "James Holmes?" This man is currently on trial for killing 12 and wounding 58 in a shooting rampage in a movie theater last Friday in Aurora, Colorado. Do we forgive this man?

This is where the topic gets touchy. He did something really wrong and now he's facing consequences for it. That's fine; that's why America has a judicial system. Forgiving people like him doesn't mean taking away the natural consequences of their actions. The definition of forgiveness, however, is to stop feeling angry or resentful toward someone for an offense, flaw, or mistake, and this is something that we are called to do whether we feel like they deserve it or not.

The song "Losing" by Tenth Avenue North (which can be found on the music page of this blog) addresses why we must stop resenting others for what they do to us by saying, "Why do we think that hate's gonna change their heart? We're up in arms over wars that don't need to be fought, but pride won't let us lay our weapons on the ground. We build our bridges up, but just to burn them down. We think pain is owed apologies and then it'll stop, but truth be told it doesn't matter if they're sorry or not. Freedom comes when we surrender to the sound of mercy and [God's] grace."

Although it's not fair that we have to forgive people who hurt us, especially when they don't even acknowledge the wrong that they did with an apology, it's also not fair that Jesus, who was completely without sin, was murdered upon a cross because of the mistakes that everyone else was making. That's the beauty of grace, though; God forgave us and showed us compassion when we least deserved it. Now He commands us to do the same with each other.

Therefore, take time to genuinely forgive the unforgivable, as God forgives the unforgivable in you.

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