Why should we forgive? Because we have been forgiven.
I know readers of this blog come from all different perspectives of faith, or no faith at all. (Which, I would argue, is another type of faith. But I digress.) Yet the concept of forgiveness is central to the Christian faith for one very important reason.
As the Apostle Paul put it in his letter to the church in the ancient city of Ephesus, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32 NIV, emphasis mine).
Our forgiveness of others is always tied to the fact that we have been radically forgiven for our hurts to others – and to God. If we were to dredge up our own mysteriously blank memories about all the ways we have really have damaged people – including the people we love the most – we would probably end up in despair. If we were to honestly catalogue the ways we have betrayed the heavenly Father who created us and loves us, we would see how unworthy we are of coming before His throne.
But, God. The cornerstone of the Christian faith is that Jesus died to pay the ransom for that sin. He defeated sin so that each of us could be forgiven for it. If we were to truly grasp how astounding that reality is, I suspect we would never withhold forgiveness.
For example, in the professional illustration I shared earlier … yes, the leaders of that partner group broke their agreement, and our ministry suffered as a result. But how many times have I, too, made hard decisions that were probably perceived as selfish and hurtful? If I truly grasp how much I have been forgiven, how can I not forgive fellow ministry leaders? We have all fallen short.
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