FriendshipНамуна

Friday: The Need for Forgiveness

SOAP: Colossians 3:12-14

Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with a heart of mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if someone happens to have a complaint against anyone else. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also forgive others. And to all these virtues add love, which is the perfect bond.

Devotion:

All our friendships will require forgiveness at some point or another. We make mistakes, we miscommunicate, we even sin against each other intentionally. The mark of a good friendship is not that friends never argue but that they seek reconciliation. That might sound simple, but forgiveness is rarely easy. It means we will have to take the weight of another person’s sin on ourselves, deal with their mistakes and choose to maintain a relationship with them anyway. It means we cannot hold past sins against them or keep a tally of every wrong thing they’ve ever done. 

Then comes the most radical part of this command: we are instructed to forgive others as God has forgiven us. God forgave us when we had done nothing to deserve forgiveness, and it cost Him dearly to secure reconciliation with us. That kind of forgiveness is inconceivable to many of us who have only ever known relationships that are always teetering on the brink of another blow-out fight, rehashing old sins. But that forgiveness is necessary. It will look foreign to the rest of the world—a witness to the difference God makes in our lives. 

Prayer:

Lord, give me the grace to offer forgiveness to people who have wronged me. Help me understand how You have forgiven me so I can forgive others. Amen.