The Gift of Forgiveness

One of the things I struggled with early in my walk with Christ was the naïve idea that those who professed to be Christians would think, act, and live better than those who weren’t Christians. When I didn’t automatically act better and saw that sometimes others didn’t either, I remember feeling no small degree of sadness. I think deep down I had hoped if others were better people for being Christians, I too, could become a better person for being one.

What I learned is that Christians are not exempt from failing. We fail often and we fail a lot of in the same ways as non-believers. The thing that makes Christians different is not our inability to fail. The difference is that we are forgiven. But we don’t always live as though we are forgiven.

Forgiveness is a miraculous gift that opens the door to so many other gifts we can claim as believers. Receiving the gift of forgiveness allows us to transcend our past, overcome the grip of sin and shame, and experience a life of unrealized freedom, power, and possibility. But without receiving and experiencing forgiveness, we don’t really know how to forgive ourselves or others. As a result, our view of ourselves and others remains tethered around what we’ve done and what others have done to us rather than what He has done for us. That is a difference that makes all the difference.

Forgiveness is so important that God allowed His own Son, to die a slow painful death so we could receive it. If you have not already done so, learn to receive God’s forgiveness. What you experience will be life-changing and will help you learn to forgive others. Then put on your seatbelt because you’ll be going somewhere.

"Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you." - Ephesians 4:32