Mar 30 - "Forgive"

"For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person - though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves His love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us." --- Romans 5:1-11 *************************************

Do you ever have times when you give a gift to someone who is undeserving of that gift?

We certainly find ourselves in situations, especially with our children, where they may have misbehaved...but, it is their birthday; are we to hold back their gifts? There are also times when someone commits a minor offense against us and we are able to say "no big deal", let it go and continue offering our love or friendship to that person. It is important to not confuse forgiveness as a lack of discipline or punishment. If a child steals a toy from a playmate, or hits or throws a tantrum, we can't just say, "oh I forgive you little one". Doing this would result in some pretty nasty consequences with everyone running around stealing, hitting and throwing tantrums because they never learned it was wrong. Discipline teaches respect; punishment shows there are consequences to action. But, these can be combined with forgiveness, not sitting apart from it, as a way to complete the healing related to an offense.

In general, when we are wronged by a friend, loved one, parent, child or family member...even a stranger...we are conditioned to expect an apology or some other type of recompense. It feels like a pretty simple cycle, especially when the offense is accidental or the result of some minor negligence. We see that apology and our resulting forgiveness as completing the process or repairing the relationship. But what happens when the person does not apologize or ask for your forgiveness? What is the example given to us in Christ or in God's gift of His Son to us?

When we hold onto that forgiveness, not giving to the person whom we need to forgive, how does that make us feel? When we have been wronged and desire an apology from the offender, we keep anger, sometimes hate, inside of us. It brews, boils and can sometimes eat us up inside. It can be even worse when the person from whom you are expecting forgiveness does not think they owe you an apology. Or, even when they know you deserve an apology and won't give one!

Is it hard to forgive? Yes! But don't we feel better when we do it? Yes!

So, simply...forgive. Release the pain which you are holding onto. Know that when we offer forgiveness when it is not deserved, we are modeling ourselves after the One who gave us forgiveness when we did not deserve it...and aren't we thankful He did!