Forgiven to Forgive

"Then his lord called him, and said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou hast besought me: oughtest thou not also to have had mercy on thy fellowservant, even as I had mercy on thee?" (Matthew 18:32-33).

Almost all Christians could say that we have received offenses from many people. To a greater or lesser extent, we have all been betrayed, forgotten, offended, slandered and robbed. Someone took advantage of us, someone lied to us, someone did us a great deal of harm; all this and much more.

But it is equally true that, to a certain extent, we have also done those same things to other people. We offended someone, we caused someone harm, someone was harmed by a bad action on our part.

And God forgave us, both the one and the other. And he forgave us freely, not because any of us deserved it. He forgave us an unpayable debt. Indeed, not a single one of our sins and offenses against God and man could be paid with the endorsement of self-righteousness or through mere human merit.

Therefore, we cannot, in the face of any offense received, react as victims, with resentment or bitterness. We cannot hold grudges, nor believe that we do not deserve the affronts we have received. In reality, we deserved more than that; if it were not for the grace and mercy of God, we would only deserve eternal death.

How can I bear a grudge against someone who has offended me, if I first offended the holiness of God? How can I bear a grudge, if God forgave all my sins? By what authority can I feel offended, if my offenses against God have been so great that the Lord Jesus Christ had to die on a cross for me? How could I be such a hypocrite? Or, in the words of the Lord, how could I be so wicked?

Lord, help me to forgive! (José Frontado).

Design downloaded from free website templates.