Have you ever paused to consider how forgiving our God is? We disobey him, ignore him, hide from him, take him for granted, receive gifts from him without thanking him, and sometimes we even curse him. All the while, he is waiting, ready to forgive us if we would just come back to him and repent. We may even sin multiple times in a day, yet he is still merciful. If we come to him in sincerity, he is ready to forgive us. So when he asks us to forgive those who have wronged us, he is not asking us to do something he hasn’t done himself. Jesus says in Luke, Chapter 17, verses 3 and 4:
“So watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”
For some, this mandate is more difficult than for others. Some of you have been severely wronged. Some have been abused. Others have been cheated and lied to. And still others have been stolen from or taken advantage of. It never ceases to amaze me what one human being is capable of doing to another. But, if we want to reflect the character of God, we need to remember what Jesus says. “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.” So like God, we are told to forgive. But unlike God, we may not forget. When we repent, Psalms reminds us that “as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” And in Hebrews the Lord declares, “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” God has the ability to do that, but even though we aren’t built that way, we are still called to forgive. God will help us to deal with the remembering part.
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What does it look like to forgive? It doesn’t mean that we are to behave as if nothing ever happened. And it doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be on our guard against another offense or to let someone walk all over us by inviting them to continually hurt us. The dictionary describes forgiveness this way: “to stop feeling angry or resentful toward (someone) for an offense, flaw, or mistake.” So, forgiveness is as much about our personal healing as it is for the healing of a relationship. It may not mean that we will embrace the person who has wronged us. But it does mean that we can stop feeling angry or resentful towards them. It means that we are allowing ourselves find peace and allowing God to heal our hearts. If their repentance is true, then with the help of the Holy Spirit, true healing can begin. That is why it is so important that when we sin, our repentance is true. Only then can we begin to heal and rebuild our relationship with God. So I challenge you to do what Jesus says. “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”