Forgiveness

One of the most profound feelings anyone can ever experience is to be forgiven. When it is so clear that you deserve punishment but the offender absorbs it and says, “It’s okay. I forgive you.” It’s like a huge weight lifted off your shoulders. And, at the same time, a finger pointing at you declaring that you are unworthy. While there’s the euphoria of joy and thanksgiving, there’s also the regret of the wrong done. So many profound feelings result from the simple yet powerful act of being forgiven. When we’ve wronged someone, we long for it desperately.

Yet it’s quite different when someone wrongs us. Often, forgiving the offender is the last thing on our minds. We’d rather inflict the very pain brought upon us. Perhaps ignore and keep him/her at a distance without the grace of forgiveness. How interesting! When we wrong another we long for it. But when wronged, we disdain it. Two opposite views that depend on whether one is the offender or offended. Could the offender who experiences forgiveness then learn to forgive when offended? This is actually the position of any believer in Christ.

Paul writes in Ephesians 4:32, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” All believers at one time stood before God condemned in their sin, with no means of saving themselves. Yet God, in His amazing grace, sent His Son to live and die for anyone who will place their faith in Jesus. Thereby Jesus says to believers, “I forgive you.” What a profound feeling results from the simple yet powerful act of being forgiven. May we remember this, so that when we are wronged, we will be generous in forgiving others as Jesus forgave us in the gospel. Because we have experienced the profound feeling of forgiveness, let us forgive by His strength and grace. Amen!