Genesis 49-50
Matthew 13:31-58
“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32
Releasing anger and resentment is not easy. In fact, it is almost impossible. The reality is, when a person insults us, what feels right for us to do is to insult the other person back. Or, when a person throws a rock at us, what we want to do is find a bigger rock and throw it back with more velocity. In many ways, our world operates under a moral framework that is counter to the Bible. How then do we release anger and resentment—how do we forgive?
Forgiveness is not something that happens in a vacuum; it requires the help of God. Our Father God who so loved the world that He sent His One and only Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to die for our sins, so that we can be forgiven and reconciled to Himself. But Jesus did not stay in the grave, He resurrected on the third day and is now seated at the right hand of God the Father. At Jesus’s ascension into heaven, God fulfilled His promise to give us the gift of a Counselor, of an Advocate—the Holy Spirit—to guide and to be with us. This is why, as followers of Jesus, we say again and again that we worship God, the One true God, who gives us the ability to follow Jesus—to forgive others.
May we not make the mistake of thinking that we can forgive others through our own power, our own might or our own strength. The truth is that we need God’s help in our lives—we need Him in our marriages, in our friendships, in our Life Groups, in our workplaces, in our schools, in our recreation and in all our spheres of influence. In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis wrote, “Everyone thinks forgiveness is a lovely idea until he has something to forgive.” Yet, forgiveness is not supposed to be an idea, it is a verb which requires us to take action.
Colossians 3:13 tells us, “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” Some of us may think that forgiveness is a choice, where we choose to forgive the person who offended us, but the truth, according to Scripture, is that we are commanded to forgive as God has forgiven us. Hence, forgiveness finds its source and strength from the supernatural act of God. Every time we forgive, we are not doing it on our own, but the Spirit within us that does what is counter-intuitive to our being.
As we approach forgiveness, may we recognize that it is not something that we could muster up without God.
PRAYER: Dear God, it is only by Your Spirit within me that I can forgive others. Thank You for demonstrating forgiveness by forgiving me first.