It’s hard to forgive someone who has unjustly hurt us. The offending person does not deserve our forgiveness. If we focus on the injustice, forgiveness will not come. We must look beyond the offending person to the Savior and what He has done for us, He dissolves our hatred if we will forgive for His sake.
A despondent woman remained after a church service to talk with the minister. “I don’t suppose you can help me,” she said. “For years I have been unable to pray. There is a woman who came between me and my husband, and I cannot forgive her.”
The minister answered kindly, “You cannot forgive her for her own sake, but couldn’t you forgive her for Christ’s sake?” At first the question did not register. Then the light broke through. She thought about how much Christ had forgiven her. “You’re right,” she said. “I can’t forgive her for her own sake, but I can for His sake – and I will!”
When treated unfairly, one part of us says, “That person doesn’t deserve my pardon.” But when we consider what it cost God to forgive us, we sense how undeserving we are. Then we begin to see the possibility of doing it for Jesus’ sake. When we are willing to say, “I will,” God’s Spirit works in us and through us to do what we cannot do for ourselves. – Dennis J. De Haan.
Since the Lord our debt did pay,
Saved our soul in grace one day,
With compassion we should live,
Always ready to forgive. – H. G. Bosch
We can stop forgiving others when Christ stops forgiving us.
- May 18, 1991, Our Daily Bread
For You 