Forgiveness, such a simple word for something that is anything but. Forgiving someone who has hurt isn’t easy. It’s something I’ve struggled with a lot.
Colossians 3:13 says,
Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
Forgiveness isn’t easy no matter the circumstances. When you’ve been hurt deeply, forgiving the person who caused the hurt is the last thing you want to do.
But Jesus while on the cross forgave the ones who had put him there. Think about that for a second.
In Luke 23:34, Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
I recently read an article about how Corrie Ten Boon forgave one of the Nazi guards from Ravensbrück Concentration Camp where she and her sister were sent and her sister Betsie died. I can’t imagine how hard that must have been.
In her book, The Hiding Place, she wrote;
“For I had to do it—I knew that. The message that God forgives has a prior condition: that we forgive those who have injured us. ‘If you do not forgive men their trespasses,’ Jesus says, ‘neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.
When we forgive, we free ourselves of the chains of bitterness and anger. We are set free when we forgive.
All the best…
Mary Alford
Christians Read 