Jesus and Forgiveness
The most difficult thing in all the world for Christians to do is forgive. For all the talk in church about forgiveness, restitution, and healing, very little of it is truly demonstrated. We all like to think of ourselves as peacemakers, lifting up the fallen, always forgiving and forgetting. However, even the most deeply spiritual are guilty of wounding brothers and sisters by not showing a spirit of forgiveness.
Even the best Christians find it hard to forgive those who injure their pride. Let two good Christian friends have a “falling out,” and you could have a lifetime grudge going. They seldom admit it because they cover their unforgiving spirits with a facade of courtesy calls, nice words, and an invitation to “Come and see us sometime.” But the relationship is never the same. They really do not hate the other party; they just seem to be saying, “Just keep him out of my hair. Let him go his way, and I’ll go mine.” Too often, believers simply ignore people they can’t forgive.
The most difficult person to forgive is someone who is ungrateful. You loved someone without being loved in return. You sacrificed to help a friend in need, only to be criticized or taken for granted. The person you went out of your way to help shows nothing but ingratitude and selfishness in return. Your good intentions are misinterpreted, and your good deeds are misconstrued as being selfishly motivated. Do you ever forgive that ungrateful person? Hardly ever. You smile at them and wave a greeting from a distance, but you determine to “never do anything for them again.”
Those who deceive us—we find it nearly impossible to forgive such a person. We are most anxious to be forgiven our own lies and failures, but nothing infuriates us more than to discover someone has lied to us.
What about the person who tells us we are wrong? Convinced we have good reasons for everything we do, we find it extremely difficult to forgive the person who suggests we have made a mistake. Rather than take an honest look at what that person is saying to us, we justify our actions.
Dear friends, this should not be so! Let us become a people who are known for our forgiveness and reconciliation. Let us begin every day with Christ’s prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:11-12, NKJV).