Forgiveness: A Christian's Business Card

            What is forgiveness? Forgiveness is responding to offenders so that the power of God’s love through me can heal them.  Therefore, in order for God’s love to heal them through us, we need to be full of God’s loving forgiveness right?

            Now, the title of this post may seem a little weird to you, because, well, everyone forgives people don’t they? Well, sort of. People will say, “I forgive you” but often times that’s as deep as it goes, and they just hold the grudge for as long as is convenient for them. Forgiving someone means that you let your anger towards them slip out of your mind. I use the analogy of a business card for a reason. First of all, it seems that you never run out of business cards, likewise we should never “run out” of forgiveness. Secondly, a business card is different for every business so the Christians, by forgiving, truly forgiving, are giving a business card that no one has ever seen before. Forgiveness is not what sets us apart but it is one thing that shows other people the grace that we’ve been shown.

You never truly forgive someone until you have let God deal with the anger that is inside of you. Recently I had someone say some things to me that were kind of hurtful. They asked for forgiveness, and I realized that I had forgotten but not forgiven. The hurt feelings were still inside my heart, I had merely forgotten them. But when this person came to me and apologized I was able to say “I forgive you.” and I was able to mean it, and those feelings of hurt or insult were removed completely from my mind and heart.

            Luke 17:4 “If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, 'I repent,' forgive him." No matter how much hurt or pain has been caused we can truly forgive because of the love of God inside of us. If we are truly grounded in God’s word and the salvation that He has provided we shouldn’t hesitate to forgive one another.

A short time ago, I heard a sermon preached by a man named Eric Ludy, and he had this to say about seeking forgiveness: “Humility is measured as the span of time that is allowed to pass between the initial recognition of your personal error (the alarm sounding) and then the actual confessing with your mouth that you have erred and the seeking of forgiveness for the fault.  The Purest form of Humility does not allow the alarm to sound twice.” When we realize we have wronged someone we must make every effort to make it right and ask for forgiveness as soon as is humanly possible.

 Similarly, when someone comes to us asking for forgiveness, we must strive to let God deal with our anger or pain as soon as possible. God isn’t keen on us keeping grudges.  He would prefer it if we entrusted our pain to Him and let Him help us forgive the people that have wronged us.  

When you feel hurt by someone, trust the pain into God’s care. He never fails to help his children when they need it.  Remember, you can forgive others even if they never apologize to you. Don’t worry about waiting for them to apologize. God will deal with their heart. If you forgive first and then they apologize you’ve lost nothing. But, if you’re waiting until they apologize, what if it never happens? What do you gain by waiting for something that might not even occur. What will you lose by forgiving them first? Humble yourself to forgive, then God’s love can heal you and them.








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