11th February 2021 – The Art of Forgiving

When we talk about forgiveness, we are, at the same time, talking about injustice because forgiveness cannot exist without injustice. If there is no offense, there’s no need to forgive. Heaven’s expectation is that we forgive as God forgives us. In reality it is offensive to God when we don’t forgive and our refusal to pardon others actually restrains God from acquitting us; “But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (Mt. 6:15).

Forgiveness is much like a credit card, God is the creditor and He gives each of us this card in order for us to use; to cash in on it. When we forgive, we are participating with God in something that is extraordinary and of divine origin. God invites us to be participants with him when we forgive our offenders. We participate in His love, interests and character; He’s at our side when we forgive.

“As the Lord forgave you” the Bible says. Well, a good question here would be “How does the Lord forgive?  “If you o Lord kept a record of sins, o Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness.” (Ps. 130:3, 4, NIV). God doesn’t keep a list of offenses; “forgive as” is what the Bible entreats us to do, as the Lord forgave, so should we towards our neighbor.

God buries our sins, as the Lord forgave us so we need to bury sins done against us as well. The famous English preacher Charles Spurgeon once said, “Forgive and forget. When you bury a mad dog, don’t leave his tail above the ground.” “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us” (Ps. 103:12). God no longer sees our past sins because they’re so far from us now. “As the Lord forgave” is what we need to do towards our neighbor.