Simple Forgiveness


In the last issue, I focused on the Good News that we have peace with God because of the reconciliation we have through Jesus. But there’s more to the Christian life than being reconciled to God; we must also be reconciled to each other. Jesus taught his disciples that our forgiveness depends upon the way we forgive others: “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matthew 6:12). And just in case we missed the point, he repeated himself in verses 14 and 15: “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” The simple peace we find through Jesus depends upon us simply forgiving others.

This is where we have to remember that “simple” doesn’t always mean “easy.” We wouldn’t describe Jesus’ death and resurrection to be an easy thing, but it’s just that simple: Jesus died so that we could be forgiven. In the same way, we don’t think of forgiving others as an easy thing, but Jesus says simply: “you’ll be forgiven as you forgive others.”

If we’re honest with ourselves, we know that we don’t always forgive others when they hurt us. Some of us have likely drawn invisible lines that separate us from those who have hurt us “X” times. We’re not ready to forgive, and we might even think of them as our enemies. And some of those “enemies” are right here with us in the church. But that cannot continue if we expect to have peace with God, if we expect to be forgiven ourselves.

Remember that Paul described us as “enemies of God” before we were reconciled to God through Jesus (Romans 5:10). Paul echoed Jesus’ words in Colossians 3:13: “Forgive as the Lord forgave you,” but first he said, “Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another.” Praise God that he has forgiven us through Jesus, but pray that God will give us the faith to forgive others as well.