“Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” (Colossians 3:13 NIV)
I read a story of a man who grew up within the framework of a very black and white understanding of justice. It was almost an eye for an eye mentality. {{more: continue … }}When he did something to upset his little brother, he would try to hide because he knew he would be punished according to the rule that was broken.
His strict understanding of justice was accompanied by a difficulty in understanding the concept of grace. Grace is clearly central to the Christian message.
The call to forgive as the Lord has forgiven us is a humbling and daunting task. It calls us to forgive completely, no longer holding on to the anger that was caused by the offender or offense. Forgiveness asks us to forfeit our desire for retribution. We all want to get even with people who have mistreated us or offended us. It can be a radical, life-changing action to truly forgive someone. It is something that we do not often see done in our culture. Even within our churches, we see people plagued and holding onto grievances with the inability to forgive.
To understand forgiveness we must look to Jesus. Nobody knows what forgiveness costs in a more profound way than Jesus. He covered humanity?s sins with his blood and forgave them eternally. Forgiveness may not cost us our life, but it will cost us some of the control we like to have over our life.
“Forgive as the Lord forgave you”
“I don’t know how, but I know WHO!”
See you on Sunday!
Peace,Pastor NeldaRead more @ First United Methodist Church Facebook
