There are two fundamental things about forgiving others that most of us overlook:
1. Forgiving is not about merit
2. Forgiving is unilateral
So if a person has hurt us, we forgive her even if we don’t see any sign of repentance. We also don’t need that person to ask for our forgiveness, we just go ahead and give it.
When we forgive, we make a conscious decision to let go of that person without wishing for her punishment.
If there is mutual willingness to rebuild what was broken, with genuine love, we can invite her back into our lives.
The same way God has forgiven our sins without us meriting that, we forgive one another also without us meriting that.
Forgiving others “by default” is one of the wonderful fruits of God’s love in us.
With the beginning of a new calendar year, I invite us all to think about our ability to genuinely love and forgive others.
We must forgive everyone, including ourselves. 70 x 7 = always!
I pray for God to keep nurturing love and forgiveness in our lives going forward.
One reply on “Are you forgiving?”
We can’t really forgive without receiving God’s Forgiveness first; we can’t forget the past without receiving the Wisdom and Power of the Holy Spirit! All glory to God!
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