Forgiving Friends

We all mess up in our relationships, and friendships are no different. We’ve all said or done things that were hurtful to our friends, sometimes intentionally and at other times accidentally. How do we make things right when this has happened? Both of today’s passages make it clear: ask for forgiveness. The right response is to acknowledge the wrong that we’ve done, try to do things differently, and then ask that person to forgive us. When we hurt a friend, we should tell them that we’re sorry and then do everything we can to be kind and compassionate towards them in the future.

What if we’re on the other end, and a friend has hurt us? Jesus tells us we should continue to forgive someone, even if they hurt us more than once. Why? The passage from Ephesians tells us that we should forgive others because God forgives us. We should act as Jesus did.

However, just like we have to repent of our sin before God can forgive us, the same applies to our friends. If someone continues to hurt you and doesn’t acknowledge that it is wrong and change their actions in the future, then perhaps they’re not truly sorry. Being forgiving doesn’t mean ignoring bad behaviour or putting up with it. Even if your friend is sorry, the best way to help them as you forgive them might be to put some distance between you.

Jesus calls us to forgive others, but he wants us to be safe and well too.

Questions: 

1. Can you think of a time when a friend hurt you? What did you do? Could you have done anything differently in response? If so, what? 
2. Why do you think it’s important to forgive others when they’re truly sorry? 
3. In what circumstances do you think it is appropriate to distance yourself from someone who has hurt you?

Prayer:

Dear God, thank you for giving me my family and friends. Please help me to be a loving and kind friend who is quick to ask for forgiveness when I do the wrong thing. Help me to be quick to forgive as well when a friend hurts me. Amen.