Sometimes I wonder why ‘we’ as redeemed sinners hold onto pain and hurt so much. I understand being hurt and let down by a friend. I understand to move on in that friendship can be painful, and somewhat undesirable at times. But what I do struggle to understand is our inability to just let go and forgive. Only Christ is faithful (1 Cor. 1:9), He should be that Best Friend that never lets you down. Sometimes I think we should expect people to let us down more often. I’m not talking about being like Eeyore and never expecting people to come through for you. I just think that too often we forget that we are fallen beings and the effect that has in our lives.
I mess up, I make mistakes, I hurt people I care about without even trying and/or sometimes knowing about it. I’m sorry but that’s the truth. I am also sorry when I hurt you. I really am.
I don’t deserve your or anybody else’s forgiveness, but I do hope for it. I try to be forgiving, especially because I understand that we all have faults. I don’t do it just because the Bible says so, it’s because there is so much freedom and joy in letting friendships grow and flourish, instead of calling it quits.
I have to function by grace. None of us are deserving of it. Romans 3:23-25 (NKJV) “23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as
a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His
righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins
that were previously committed” No one can say that they deserve any grace at all. No one can say that they are worthy of forgiveness. But God gave it freely. Romans 5:14-15 (NKJV) “14 Nevertheless death
reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned
according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type
of Him who was to come. 15 But the free gift is
not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much
more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus
Christ, abounded to many.” Aren’t we all called to be Christ-like? Isn’t that what we profess to strive for? How many of us are willing to lay our lives down for people who haven’t even realized that they have done wrong? Jesus did it.
a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His
righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins
that were previously committed” No one can say that they deserve any grace at all. No one can say that they are worthy of forgiveness. But God gave it freely. Romans 5:14-15 (NKJV) “14 Nevertheless death
reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned
according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type
of Him who was to come. 15 But the free gift is
not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much
more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus
Christ, abounded to many.” Aren’t we all called to be Christ-like? Isn’t that what we profess to strive for? How many of us are willing to lay our lives down for people who haven’t even realized that they have done wrong? Jesus did it.
So why do we struggle so much to forgive those that we know and love?
Have grace.
