You Must!

Colossians 3: 12 - 13   ESV

¹² Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,

¹³ bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

My Mom had a lady who really hurt her a number of years ago, and every time that ladies name came up in conversation, my Mom’s stomach did a flip flop.

The same lady just died a few days ago, and my Mom’s been gone for almost 11 years. I don’t think either of them found any peace with each other.

The problem was that I don’t think Elsie ever recognized how much she hurt my Mom.

But the real problem though, was that my Mom never found it in her heart to forgive that woman.

There was a time in their lives, when they were pretty good friends.

No matter what that woman did  or didn’t do wrong, according to God it was my Mom’s role to forgive Elsie.

Forgiveness is not conditional, it’s actually a command.

You’d be surprised the people who needlessly hang onto offenses.

It troubles the offended person greatly, and it affects every person around them.

How do I know that? I lived in that home, and when Elsie’s name came up it was never a pleasant experience.

“…as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also MUST forgive…”

That means that we have to stop the blame game, and stop pouring out all the guilt.

We also need to stop referring to the offense, and never use it as a trump card.

We may not feel very much like forgiving, but we had better learn to operate out of this spiritual mandate…