We have all heard that forgiveness is not easy. Many of us can also
testify to the truth of that from personal experience. But not only is
forgiveness difficult to extend, it can be difficult to fully understand
in its depth of biblical significance.
Understanding from a biblical perspective what it really means when we
say “I forgive you” can help us to extend genuine forgiveness to others
and will allow those three simple words to be more than an empty
sentiment.
Writing for GentleFormation.com, Jared Olivetti gives six truths that
define genuine biblical forgiveness, as well as Bible verses that go
along with each truth in his article “When We Say ‘I Forgive You.’”
Forgiveness is more than simply forgetting an offense--”forgive and
forget” as the popular phrase goes. Instead, it is saying, “I will cover
this sin with the grace of Christ every time I feel its injury and
pain.”
Biblical forgiveness means remembering how much Christ has forgiven us,
and out of that abundance of grace, paying it forward to others.
>Luke 17:3-4
says: If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him,
and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you
seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.
Forgiveness also means relinquishing the desire to pursue vengeance.
It’s easy to want to get back at someone; it may even feel like justice
to make them pay for what they did, how they wronged you, but >Romans 12:19
reminds us that God is the one who will take care of justice: “Beloved,
never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is
written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”
Olivetti notes that forgiveness also means acknowledging that you will
accept the suffering caused by someone’s sin. Sin has consequences, and
although forgiveness can be the unexpected shift toward a different,
less destructive, more grace-filled path, it does not do away with
suffering caused by sin.
Forgiving someone means being willing to bear with them in that
suffering because we know that “[A]fter you have suffered a little
while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in
Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you” (>1 Peter 5:10).
Forgiveness also should influence our interactions with those who are
not directly involved in wronging us. Forgiving someone means not
speaking badly of that person and what they did to you or others; it
means not slandering them, but seeking to protect their reputation.
>Ephesians 4:29
says: Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as
is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to
those who hear.
We must remember that at its heart, even forgiveness itself is not
something we can muster up by sheer will; rather, it is an overflow of
the outpouring of God’s grace in our own lives.
Crosswalk.com contributor Debbie Przybylski in her article “The Power of Forgiveness” sums it up well:
“God will give us the grace to fully set everyone free.
May we be like Jesus, who was the first one to love. When God forgives
us, He gives us the power to forgive. May the river of God’s life flow
through us in that we bless everyone we meet. May we remind people of
how much they are loved by God. As we give our lives away in love and
forgiveness, we become free ourselves. Many of us don’t realize the
power there is in truly forgiving one another. It is much greater and
has a far greater consequence than any of us have ever realized.”
Photo courtesy: Thinkstockphotos.com
Veronica Neffinger
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