Forgiveness

Last night at church, our lesson was on forgiveness.  I, and I’m sure most of you, have struggled with this at one time or another. Our main lesson was in Matthew 18:21-35, The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant

Basically? We are to forgive as God has forgiven us. It’s honestly that simple. But unfortunately, because we are human, it’s hard to execute sometimes. Especially when we have that one person who continually hurts us. Seriously, why should we keep forgiving them? Well the answer is really simple….because God keeps forgiving us.

We mess up time and time again and yet he shows his unfailing love towards us and forgives us.

Not forgiving someone only creates bitterness in our hearts. We end up holding a grudge towards that person. And it says in Ephesians 4:31-32

Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another even as God in Christ forgave you.

So as we celebrate this Christmas season and remember Christ’s birth, let’s take the time to search our hearts and if we are harboring unforgiveness then we should take a moment and let the bitterness go and forgive that particular person.

But Leigh, you say, you don’t know the hurt they’ve done to me. You don’t know the pain they’ve caused. You’re right, I don’t. But I do know the pain we’ve caused Christ and look at how much he forgives us.