Written by Katie Forbess, President of Iron Rose Sister Ministries Board of Directors
Grace is defined as undeserved favor. “We love, because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19 NIV).
I wanted to tell you how saying and hearing, “I forgive you,” is an important part of the forgiveness process. But in the story I will tell, no one told us they were sorry, and we could not say, “I forgive you.” However, I can certainly tell you about the healing that can happen through forgiveness and the fulfillment of the ministry of reconciliation that Christ has called us to.
Grace is defined as undeserved favor, and it is very connected to forgiveness.
Last fall when someone did something unthinkable against my family, we sat at the dining room table and forgave them before we even knew who or what was going on. We knew the whole situation was based on a lie that God would have to bring to light. It was a serious “the truth will set you free” situation.
Why did we choose to forgive? We couldn’t have lived with the waiting and the stress and the unknown of what the following three weeks would bring if we hadn’t. We had been told every Sunday of our lives that Christ died for our sins and we are all sinners and no one is without sin and we must forgive others. Now we had to put it into practice, and we learned that like everything God does, He does it for the good of those who love Him.
The forgiveness we gave had nothing to do with who the offender was because we didn’t know who told the lie. We didn’t forgive because of how awesome we are, because we are not. The only way I can explain it is that the love we have for God and the desire we have to follow the example of Christ in our daily lives made forgiveness our first response. We felt the power of His forgiveness and knew that it was something that we were called to share.
Forgiveness doesn’t have anything to do with me or the other person. Forgiveness has everything to do with obedience and our true reconciliation with God.
Jesus is clear in the Lord’s Prayer regarding the connection between forgiving others and God forgiving us. We have to forgive others in order to be forgiven. I think this is because we can’t even start to fathom God’s forgiveness until we go through the process of forgiving others. The difference is that we are sinners just like the one we are forgiving, unlike God who is perfect and forgives us anyway, in the most complete way.
Can you remember the feeling of being forgiven of your sins when you came out of the waters of baptism? Can you remember the feeling of taking the Lord’s Supper for the first time as a member of the church?
Do you remember a time when you hurt someone and had to ask for forgiveness? Do you remember the worry of wondering whether they would forgive you or not? With God, we do not have to wonder. We are forgiven and we will be forgiven. What will we do with that within our other relationships?
“And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matt. 6:12).