God calls His children to be like him, and to do so regarding an area of life in which we may not want to imitate our Father: granting forgiveness. Think of it: how difficult is it to forgive? To really, truly forgive? To really, truly put a past hurt behind you, to never bring it up again, to put it out of your mind and never use it as a basis for future accusation, a trump card to be brought out and played later when you want something….how hard is it to not use that past hurt as an excuse for hardness toward that person, a reason for not being kind to them?
It's easier to hold a grudge, it's easier to want to see the offending person suffer, if even just a little bit, so we can be satisfied that in our mind justice was done. It's easier to think of ourselves as better than the person who hurt us, to enjoy being the victim and the sympathy we get from others. It's easier to speak ill of someone for hurting us, rather than to speak well of them for apologizing. Sometimes we don't want someone who's offended us to be sorry and to apologize…we enjoy having what we think is the upper hand morally. And when we do hear an apology and grant forgiveness, there is sometimes a quiet pride in it, a perverse, prideful enjoyment in seeing someone else in the low, humbling condition of asking for forgiveness. Our passage calls us away from that natural, prideful inclination, and it calls us to imitate the forgiving heart of our heavenly Father. When God's people love and forgive one another, the church is grown, strengthened and protected, and He is glorified in our midst. |
