Forgiveness

 Forgiveness

February 8, 2025

There is an old saying, “To err is human. To forgive is Devine”. There is some basic truth in this. The ability to forgive is certainly not easy and may , in fact, be the most notable fruit of the Spirit. Jesus highlighted the difficulty of forgiveness in this discourse in Mathew.

Matthew 18:21-22

21Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” 22 Jesus *said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

When they portrayed this conversation in “The Chosen” series, they made it plainly obvious how much trouble Peter was forgiving Matthew.  They portrayed this as Peter having to forgive Matthew for his actions against Peter’s family when Matthew was a tax collector, and nearly put Peter in prison for failure to pay all his taxes. This was a very hard pill for Peter to swallow even though he knew that Matthew had accepted Jesus and turned his life around. Forgiveness is certainly not a natural, or easy action.

Other character traits can be faked. It is common for some people to act like they love someone, at least for a time. And compassion is claimed all the time, as long it is someone else’s time and money that is being donated. Bill Clinton is said to have remarked, “When you can fake sincerity, you can fake anything”. There are many actors, salesmen and politicians who have refined this level of acting to a fine art. Forgiveness is different though. Take the common public confession; “I’m sorry if you were offended by what I said”. The implication is clearly that they, in fact, did nothing wrong but are blaming the other person for being offended. This is not forgiveness. 

It is a Devine attribute for Father God to forgive the sins of all mankind when Jesus shed His blood on the cross. There is nothing in human nature that can approach this level of forgiveness. We have trouble enough forgiving a single person for a wrong committed against us. Yet, the Father can separate our sins from us as far as the east is from the west.

Psalms 103:12

12 As far as the east is from the west,

So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

Yes Jesus command us to forgive, so it is possible. It takes an effort of the will and the strength of the Holy Sprit to truly forgive someone. And then forgetting about it and coming to a place of reconciliation is more difficult still. In many cases, we may never reconcile with the offending party, but it still required, for our sake, to forgive them. Our part in participating in the Devine nature, and thus living holy, is to forgive and also to ask for forgiveness when we have made a transgression .

1 John 1:9-10

9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we havenot sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.

There is a lot more that could be said on this subject, but that is enough for now. So meditate on what it means to forgive and on what it means to be forgiven. That is to meditate on the character and nature of God.