Forgiveness

I have really been thinking a lot about forgiveness lately. There are a couple of things going on in which I really need to let go and truly forgive. Our pastor just did a sermon on Matthew 18 where Jesus explains to Peter that we should forgive an uncountable number of times if needed. Christ explains that we should forgive just as we have been forgiven. It brought to mind Psalm 103;

11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. 13 As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.

Just as our Father has compassion on us; shouldn’t we have compassion for others? Now this is easier said than done and forgiving doesn’t necessarily mean there aren’t any consequences for these transgressions. However, it does mean that we should forgive from the heart and isn’t this the pattern the example our Savior provides for us? And shouldn’t we all strive to be more Christ-like?

I recently came across something that Octavius Winslow said about forgiveness. It truly moved me and is helping me see the “why”. Winslow said;

“If there is a single exercise of divine grace in which, more than in any other, the believer resembles God, it is this. God's love to man is exhibited in one great and glorious manifestation, and a single word expresses it-forgiveness. In nothing has He so gloriously revealed Himself as in the exercise of this divine prerogative. Nowhere does He appear so like Himself as here. He forgives sin, and the pardon of sin involves the bestowment of every other blessing. How often are believers called upon thus to imitate God! And how like him in spirit, in affection, and in action do they appear, when, with true greatness of soul and with lofty magnanimity of mind, they fling from their hearts, and efface from their memories, all traces of the offence that has been given, and of the injury that has been received! How affecting and illustrious the example of the expiring Redeemer! At the moment that His deepest wound was inflicted, as if blotting out the sin and its remembrance with the very blood that it shed, He prayed, as the last drop fell, and as the last breath departed, "Father, forgive them." How fully and fearfully might He have avenged Himself at that moment! A stronger than Samson hung upon the cross. And as He bowed His human nature and gave up the spirit, He could as easily have bowed the pillars of the universe, burying His murderers beneath its ruins. But no! He was too great for this. His strength should be on the side of mercy. His revenge should wreak itself in compassion. He would heap coals of fire upon their heads. He would overcome and conquer their evil, but He would overcome and conquer it with good: "Father, forgive them."

Father, may our strength be in mercy, may our revenge be compassion, and may we overcome and conquer with good. Father, forgive us and help us forgive!


Grace and Peace!