Day 63 - Issue 43

Be Still and Know Daily Bible Devotion

Colossians 3:13

'Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.'

Any happy and harmonious community relies upon forgiveness. It isn’t an optional extra but an absolute necessity. However, it is also incredibly hard work, so we need to reflect very carefully upon it.

Humans step on one another’s toes very easily. In complete innocence, we often do it without meaning to. We say or do things which are obviously right to us, but which cause hurt and unhappiness to others. And, by the same token, people step on our toes and hurt us unintentionally. The only way of coping with this inevitable part of community life is to forgive. This forgiveness rarely needs to be put into words; saying that you forgive another person for their thoughtless words or actions can easily produce problems of its own. God calls us to live with an attitude of forgiveness that graciously and lovingly moves on from the hurt without drawing attention to it.

That might be called the relatively easy part of forgiveness. But what do you do when someone has deliberately gone out of their way to cause you serious harm? Surely justice demands that you settle the score and get your own back? No. God calls us to forgive that too, even when it’s incredibly tough to do so. Often, it’s so tough that the only way in which we can do it is by remembering that this is exactly how God has treated us. Through our thoughts, words and actions we have sinned against God. And there is absolutely no reason why he should forgive us. But that is what he has chosen to do.

Jesus made it plain that God loves to give his forgiveness to us, but it is conditional. He can only forgive us if we are willing to pass it on to others. That sounds straightforward enough until we need to forgive someone who has wronged us. It is not an easy journey, but it is God’s loving way for all of us.

Question: When did you last need to forgive someone and what did you learn from the experience?

Prayer: Loving God, thank you for your gift of forgiveness to me. Help me to be more generous in sharing your forgiveness with those who offend me. Amen