Jesus has a lot to say about forgiveness. “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive you.” (Matthew 6:14-15) He even taught us to pray, “Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.” (Luke 11:4) In His torment on the cross, Jesus gave us the supreme example when He asked His Father to forgive those who were crucifying Him. How can we possibly forgive others as God has forgiven us? The answer is found in God’s love.
The best definition of God’s love is found in the thirteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians where we find that love “keeps no record of being wronged.” Corrie Ten Boom put it this way, “God takes our sins – the past, present and future and dumps them in the sea and puts up a sign that says NO FISHING ALLOWED.” It is much easier to forgive something that has been put out of sight. (My favorite phrase in my old age has become, “Out of sight – out of mind.”) Satan, the great accuser, loves to fish up not only our sins to accuse us, but all of the things others have done to us to keep us accusing them. Without a record of wrongs, he is out of ammunition.
I’ve quoted Corrie Ten Boom before. She and her sister helped Jews escape from the Germans during World War II, but they were eventually caught. After her sister died, she was sentenced to be executed. The day before her execution, there was an administrative foul up and instead of being executed, she was released. She spent the rest of her long life telling others of the marvelous power of God and the lessons she learned in the midst of hardship. I love the way she described her battle with forgiveness for one particular German. “Even as the angry vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him….Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me your forgiveness….And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world’s healing hinges, but on his. When he tells us to love our enemies, he gives along with the command, the love itself.”
Lord, let us continually allow your love and forgiveness to flow through us into the world and onto those around us who deserved them the least but need them the most. Amen.