The Command to Forgive
Colossians 3:13 Don’t be angry with each other, but forgive each other. If you feel someone has wronged you, forgive them. Forgive others because the Lord forgave you.
Jesus died on that cross so that you and I could be forgiven. He rose again so that we could walk in newness of life, from here to eternity. That’s why they call it the “good news”. But I wonder what happens when we put the shoe on the other foot. I wonder.
The fact that you and I are forgiven by God through the ultimate sacrifice that Jesus made truly is good news. It’s news that we love hearing, it’s news that we love to revel in – because through what He’s done for us, if we put our faith in Him and Him alone, we’ve avoided what was coming to us. The wrath of God, eternal separation from God. Hallelujah.
But then, how forgiving are we? When someone else wrongs us, just as we in the past have wronged God, how ready are we to give up what we’re entitled to, justice, recompense, and forgive them?
Colossians 3:13 Don’t be angry with each other, but forgive each other. If you feel someone has wronged you, forgive them. Forgive others because the Lord forgave you.
I have a glare, a scowl that can cut a person in half at thirty paces. Seriously. And that “look” has, over the years, been anything but good news to those who have wronged me. But if I’m to take the good news of Jesus seriously, if you’re to take it seriously, then we in turn have to be good news to others. We, in turn, are called – no, actually, commanded, to forgive others because through the suffering of Jesus, God forgave us. This isn’t an optional extra. It’s a command.
Don’t be angry with each other, but forgive each other.
Why? Because through His own, blood-drenched suffering, the Lord forgave you. So, let me ask you, are you good news, or bad news?
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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