"Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."
Colossians 3:13
"Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye."
Mark 11:26
"But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses."
From this sample of verses on forgiveness, we can clearly see that we are to be a forgiving people. Why are we to forgive others? What do all these verses have in common for the reason we should forgive? Because we have been forgiven. When we repent and are baptized, those sins are washed away and forgiven. If we can't forgive others, how can we expect God to forgive us?
Who are we to forgive?
- People outside the church-that person who cuts you off on the highway, the mean girls in school who call you names, the friend who lies to you, etc
- Brothers and sisters in the church-sometimes I find this group of people the hardest to forgive because I hold them to a higher standard than I do others. But you know what? We are all imperfect people trying to do our best to live for Christ. We will mess up. We will hurt other's feelings. And we all need to forgive.
- Ourselves-When we fail and we repent, God wipes the slate clean and forgives. However, we don't forgive ourselves as easily. This is something I struggle with all the time. I beat myself up for mistakes instead of forgiving myself and moving on.
Let's think about these verses this week (and every week!) and focus more on being forgiving.
-C
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