Becoming Like JesusSample

Forgiveness

Today, we are looking at the command to forgive others.

“Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.” Colossians 3:13

Forgive anyone who offends you.

In a society that is easily offended, this might be a very challenging command for some. As difficult as it may be, we cannot ignore that it is, in fact, a command. Paul says we must forgive others. Not we should, or it would be nice if we did. Not even that it is better to forgive, but that we must forgive others.

Forgiveness is so crucial because it’s linked to the very heart of the gospel. We see in our passage that we are to forgive others because of the forgiveness we have received from God. We are all sinners deserving eternal punishment, but because of God’s grace alone, we are forgiven. When we truly understand that we have been forgiven of much, we can see that we must extend forgiveness to others.

Jesus illustrates this principle through a parable in Matthew 18. In this parable, a king decides to settle accounts with his servants. One servant, in particular, owes a significant debt. Because he couldn’t pay the debt, he and his family were to be enslaved and their property sold to settle the account. The servant begged for more time, and the king took pity on him and canceled his debt. Later, the servant confronted a peer who owed him a debt. Rather than paying forward the forgiveness extended by the king, the servant had his peer thrown in jail until he could repay the debt. When the king heard what happened, he reprimanded the servant, stating, “You wicked servant. I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?”

In this parable, the servant lost sight of the mercy he received. As a result, he also lost sight of his need to extend mercy to others. I can resonate with the servant. It’s easy to focus on the things that offend me rather than the call to forgive. It’s easy for me to make excuses about why I am justified in holding a grudge; why they don’t deserve forgiveness. But the truth is, none of us deserves forgiveness. That’s the very definition of mercy. “Mercy” means not getting what we deserve. We deserve eternal punishment, but because of God’s mercy, that is no longer our fate if we believe in Jesus. The person who hurt or offended us may not deserve our forgiveness, but that does not mean we aren’t still called to forgive. Jesus demonstrated this on the cross when he uttered, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” He was advocating for their forgiveness, not because they deserved it (they were murdering Him), but because God is a merciful God. As His children, we too must be merciful, forgiving others as the Lord forgave us.

Today, as we continue pondering the call to forgive others, I pray the Lord would give each of us a deeper understanding and gratitude for the forgiveness we have received. Let’s also spend time reflecting on whether we have unforgiveness in our hearts. Forgiving others is hard, but Philippians 2 promises that God will give us the desire and the power to do what pleases Him. Ask the Lord for help to forgive.