(eusplagchnos – Inwardly passionette, sacrificially, give freely, charmingly, favor)
Eph 4:32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Col 3:13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
The giving of a gift.
Granting grace.
Raise your hand if you’re one of those people that just has a hard time letting go of a wrong or a hurt done to you. I would be in this category, but I just don’t have the memory space in my brain to store wrongs alongside the things necessary to live life!
Forgiveness, it seems, has been given a bad reputation. Here are some common misperceptions:
We still think it’s…
- letting someone off the hook.
- allowing them to get away with it.
- forgiveness means forgetting.
We actually think we are in control of another person’s happiness, future or behavior.
We think, by sheer will, that holding onto the memory will punish the perpetrator a bit longer.
How exhausting that must be. It turns out that un-forgiveness is a bitter poison that goes down easy and then like a cancer cell destroys from the inside out. I’ve seen the hollowed souls that have become a shell of what they used to be – because of not practicing this powerful word.
In the letter to Ephesus Paul says to forgive if you have any blame or fault with someone.
BLAME
– now that’s a word that needs a whole different discussion. Blame is easy to grab when you’re hurt or something goes wrong.
The bad news; having it, holding it or wielding it never helps YOU. It’s just a lousy weapon to pickup.
Well I like to end on the truth about the word forgiveness. It comes from the word “grace” or gift. So bottom line… forgiveness the act of giving a gift.
I’m sure that’s the last thing you want to think about when you have been gossiped about at church and sister vomit has turned all your friends against you. Or walk into church one day and find out that everyone knows you have an IRS lean because your Christian accountant felt it necessary to “inform” the Pastor of your financial problems.
Yeah, that’s the kind of environment where this word has to work and has to be real.
I can’t begin to tell you how many issues are masked under the guise of DOCTRINE, THEOLOGY or POLICY just because there have been hurt, wounds and NO FORGIVENESS. And apparently the higher up on the church-food-chain you are the less expected or less likely that forgiveness is given or asked for! If there were more forgiveness between each other there would be a better chance at unity and a better reflection of Jesus to the world and to new believers.
Prayer:
Father, even though I know your word says to forgive I still have a difficult time practicing this one. Please help me give gifts of grace to my brother just as you have given to me.
next week… speak to one another