How to Forgive

via GIPHY

I learned about forgiving at an early age. As an older sibling, it wasn't far past my toddler years that I had to start using the phrases, "Will you forgive me?" and "I forgive you". These are important phrases we should all know how to use. They help society function and move along. Without these two phrases, the world would be war-torn and wrecked. 

But where did the idea of forgiveness come from? How do we know when and how we need to be forgiven or forgive others? 

via GIPHY

It all comes back to a God who wants relationship with us. When God created the earth He desired to bring humans into it along with the majesty of the mountains and the depths of the ocean. Even though all of what God created was called good, there was something missing. It was us! When God created man, He called it very good. Once man was made, there was a need for companionship so woman was made as well. 

After the Fall, man and woman needed a way to be in relationship with God again. God wanted to be with us still. The need for atonement and forgiveness entered the picture. This led to the Jewish sacrificial system, a lot of rules and rituals that allowed the people of God to be in fellowship with Him. This system worked for awhile, but because it was dependent on humans realizing they NEEDED to be forgiven and be in relationship with God, it eventually failed. A bunch of times. 

Enter Jesus. 

Jesus came into an occupied Jerusalem. The Jewish people were living under a government that was foreign, it had a bunch of gods instead of just one. The ruler of the Romans was even considered the supreme god of all. For hundreds of years the Jewish people had been hoping for a physical deliverer. A political leader that would again restore them back to being their own nation. Instead, they received God Incarnate. A gentle and humble man who spent His three years on earth reeducating His followers on what it meant to love, be a neighbor and forgive. Jesus said that to forgive, meant not just one time, or even seven times as the law required, but seventy times seven times. That forgiveness was not just a temporary transaction, but one that is on-going. Forgiveness is a gift that God offers us, and we in turn offer to others. 

As humans, it is not in our nature to be forgiving or humble with others. It is in our nature to be selfish and self-preserving. If I go about my life without any moral instruction, my base instincts to protect myself are going to be my first instincts. This path takes me down the one where my life looks like the aftermath of a battle, not a place of peace and prosperity. 

God shows us how to forgive. He forgives us completely. Through the act of Jesus being the final atonement for all sins that have happened, are happening or will happen, we see how we also must forgive. Not in a way that remembers and holds people accountable for how they used to be, but in a way that allows for a person to have a fresh start. As God gives us eternal second chances, so must we offer that to those who have wronged us. Our ability to give second-chances can only come from our understanding that we ourselves need them. This is an on-going and necessary work. Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:15 that "if we do not forgive others their sins, we will not be forgiven." It is for our own sakes that we must forgive. Without a forgiving heart, we turn ourselves over to the type of heart that becomes bitter and closed off. We also then can become prideful and comfortable in our own right to stay hurt. When we allow that self-righteousness to set in, we lose the point of needing forgiveness ourselves. That leads to a closed off and lonely existence. 

My friends, join me in the act of learning how to forgive. Not so we receive some heavenly reward or can impress others with our graciousness. Let's do it so our hearts stay humble in remembering our own need for forgiveness. 

via GIPHY