Christian Forgiveness

This is a reoccuring theme with me recently and so while I feel like I’ve said this before, I’m going to say it again.

We are more than our worst mistake. We are human and because of that, we really screw up sometimes. We should strive to not make these mistakes, and when we make them, we should strive to become better than we were before. Christianity, and the pilgrim pathway of salvation it offers us through Christ Jesus, is built upon forgiveness. It is built upon making “bad things” right.

Jesus never said “Did he sin against you? Eye for an eye buddy- go take him out. Cast him out with the goats. He is the child of Satan- may he get what he deserves.” Jesus taught a lesson of forgiveness. If any of us were to receive what we deserve, none of us would reach our eternal salvation.

Ideally, we would be able to completely forgive the past transgressions against us. It’s not always so easy. I don’t do it every time either.
To what higher ideal are we calling towards with our bitterness? To what God or gods are we appealing to by our sacrifice of friendships, or relationships?

Being a Christian is not easy folks. It’s not. We are called to forgive those who causes our blood to boil- I’m not saying call them up, invite them over to watch a movie with you or anything like that, but we are called to forgive even our worst enemies. We are called to be like the One who is the perfect Son of God Himself. We can’t live up to that, we make mistakes. When we make mistakes and fail in our goal of living as Christ, we then become hypocrites. We’ve all been there. When we are hurt and upset, we are to forgive. This is not easy stuff. Christ, the sinless person, forgave those who were killing him, as they were killing him. Not after they turned around and said “ya know, he’s not so bad. I might not drive in the nail so hard.” No, he forgave them as they were killing him. This is the type of love and forgiveness we all called to! It seems crazy, it really does. It is something I am working towards still.

Nonetheless, it is to what we are called.

If nothing else, hanging on to something that is in the past will do nothing but consume your present. If the situation is still in the present, that is something different. But, if the situation is in the past, it is in the past. People don’t go away as easily. As much as we would like them to sometimes, they don’t. If a bully stops bullying you, it’s over. They might still be there and you might not like it, but the bullying stopped. If you continue your quest to get that person out of your life, is the bully your problem? Or are you festering that previous problem and keeping it alive?

Again, I am not saying forget what happened, ask the bully to hold your lunch money for you while you tie your shoe or whatever (Although, it would be ideal to get to that point). Forgive and let go.