Forgive One Another

             Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. (Colossians 3:13)

 

            We all want to be like God, whether it’s knowing good and evil, performing miracles, or having our way. Curiously, when it comes to being like God in the way that Scripture calls us to be like God, we seem to walk away slowly, hoping no one will notice – like the guys to whom Jesus said, “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.”

            So, what does it mean to forgive as the Lord forgave us? Some of us lack a real sense of our sin. I know that I have sinned. I have no doubt that I sin daily, but if you asked me how I sinned yesterday, chances are good I could only give you vague answers, or answers that have to do with failing to do something that was not sinful – like not getting enough done or not doing something to a level I think it should have been, even if doing so was impossible. I would go so far as to say that I was faithless and proud. Get me going and I’ll probably end up proclaiming that I was a miserable failure on all points.

            God doesn’t lack a sense of our sin and doesn’t see it as vague, tenuous, ephemeral. It is real, acute, and painful to Him. His forgiveness isn’t a claim that we weren’t so bad or it doesn’t matter. It does matter. It mattered enough that someone legally had to pay the price, and God chose to do that Himself.

            For us to forgive others as He forgives us, we need to be very aware of the sin against us. We have to recognize the harm it does. And we have to choose to accept the cost of that sin, even the cost to the person who committed it. This leads to the question of what the cost should be for a specific sin. Forgiving isn’t easy for us.

            But what he did was wrong? Yep.

            It hurt – a lot. Yep.

            No one should do that to someone else. Yep, you’re right.

            He deserves to pay for the harm he did. Yep.

            But I recognize that the price for the harm he did cannot be repaid. He may be able to buy you a new object to replace the one he took or damaged, but that’s a small part of the debt. He can’t pay for the trust/faith he broke. He can’t pay for the repair of the damage to your feelings. He can’t give you back the life he destroyed.

            He may have to go to prison for what he did, but you and I can be like God, forgiving him the debt he owes us that he can’t repay. It’s not easy, but it’s necessary for our own well-being.