Forgiveness At WorkSample

Forgive your way into better relationships—with people and with God

In the Bible, Jesus’ commandment to forgive other people comes immediately after his teaching on conflict resolution. The implication is clear. When someone is earnestly trying to repair their relationship with you, forgive them, then move forward with a clean slate.

Forgiveness means letting go of the lingering anger, resentment, and any other ill feelings you’re carrying for the person who hurt you. Forgiveness does not mean letting the other person keep hurting you or others.

At the same time, you can choose to forgive someone even when there is still conflict between you. You want to do this for the personal benefits of forgiveness. Ill feelings of resentment can poison your working relationships and separate you from God. Forgiveness frees you to experience more joy with God and your work. You do not need to wait for a conflict to be resolved or for the other person to change. You can choose to forgive today.

The link between interpersonal forgiveness and God’s forgiveness is so important that Jesus points it out specifically when he teaches his followers how to pray. If you forgive others, God will forgive you, Jesus says.

In the Lord’s Prayer and in Matthew 18, forgiveness is a command. God requires it. Yet as with all commands, it’s only made possible through Jesus’ sacrifice. Christ’s death on the cross demonstrated what forgiveness looks like, and empowered people to do the same. If you tap into gratitude for God’s forgiveness through Jesus, you’ll likely find the motivation, power, and ability to forgive others.

It’s not worth it to let someone else’s wrong come between you and God. “Over time,” Cerys says, “I've just decided it's not worth being angry about. There's no need to carry around anger.” She concludes, “That’s probably where forgiveness has come in.”

Prayer: God, I drop the charge against the person who wronged me. Please free me to experience joy in my life and in my work. Amen.

If you enjoyed this plan, find more plans from the Theology of Work Project at www.theologyofwork.org/devotions