Lent Guide 2023Sample

Friday - Forgiveness

Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Ephesians 4: 31-32

Practice forgiveness. I specifically say practice forgiveness, because it doesn’t come naturally. Forgiveness is not our first reaction.

Forgiveness is one of the things that Jesus talks about the most, probably because Jesus knows that if we don’t forgive each other, it is impossible for us to live a life where we’re free and where we can experience something of life in abundance. That’s why, whether we like it or not, forgiveness is one of the litmus tests for being a child of God.

Richard Rohr talks about the centrality of forgiveness in our relationship with God, and says: “We have been weak in teaching the absolute centrality of forgiveness to understanding the gospel. It is not that you might need to do this, it is in this experience of forgiveness that you refined your life in a different place.”

To be a follower of Jesus and walk around with a heart full of resentment is a contradixio exterminus. It isn’t possible. And it’s when I’m faced with this brokenness in my life that I realise we are broken people, and that’s exactly why we need to forgive each other.

How is it going with your practice of forgiveness?
In what ways are you being held captive by resentment as a result of unforgiveness?

Grace:

Lord, give me the grace of freedom from resentment.