Forgiveness, Part One

I forgive you.

It's a tough way to start a series on forgiveness but I have to start somewhere.  I forgive you for the offense.  I will not take it into account when I think of you.  I don't know what your day was like when the offense occurred therefore I cannot hold it against you in any shape, form, or fashion.  I forgive you.

God has attempted to convict my heart on the topic of forgiveness many times over the years.  He really poked me about it recently.  How can I truly love and have charity for other humans if I don't forgive them?

My attitude needed an adjustment.  Don't they have to ask for the forgiveness before I give it?  Shouldn't they feel shame or sorrow for the hurt and misery they've caused?  Surely they have to know that they have offended me before I can forgive them, right?  Wrong.  God calls me to forgive.  Love doesn't keep score therefore I get the opportunity and blessing of giving forgiveness.

Sure, it's easy to forgive my fellow church member for not saying, "Hi!" on Sunday.  It's easy to forgive the driver that pulled out in front of me.  It's easy to forgive my kids when they skip a chore.  It's easy to forgive my brother when he forgets my birthday.  I can do that.  I have done that.

It begins to get harder to forgive when someone has laughed at my ideas.  It begins to be harder to forgive when someone tosses aside the work and effort that I put into a project. It's very difficult to forgive a friend that has betrayed a trust and gossiped.  But, I can do that.  I have done that.

Finally, reality begins to test my ability to forgive.  I know it is painful and taxing to forgive the spouse that molested a child's friend, left that child emotionally scarred, left my children fatherless, and destroyed my marriage.  That offense hurt.  It wounded deeply.  It hurt for a long time.  But, by the grace of God, forgiveness has come.  There is still grief over the losses but forgiveness has come.

You see, when I forgive you - truly forgive you - no matter the offense, it honors God.  That is my desire - to honor God.

(Father God, I cannot keep the forgiveness that you so freely shared with me from others.  I want to honor you in all that I do.  By the power of Christ, I will seek to be kind to others, tenderhearted, forgiving others just as you have forgiven me.  I pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God.  Amen.)