Why I Believe – Forgiveness Part 2

Greetings Dear Reader,

In pondering why I believe I have to review the things that hinder or have hindered my faith.  Forgiveness is positively one of them.  When I do not forgive others it impacts my ability to be loving, kind, gentle, and meek with them and others.  When I do not seek forgiveness when I have wronged someone it makes me proud, arrogant, and dismissive.

I think that Christ followers have moved from seeking genuine forgiveness from others to simply apologizing or worse simply saying they are “sorry” when they have wronged someone.  It takes humility to truly ask for forgiveness.  We hand the power of a situation over to the one we have wronged.  We give the wronged person a choice to forgive or not forgive.  We become vulnerable to their choice of right or wrong.

When we simply say we are sorry we do not give the other person true humility.  I think we are not even expressing true sorrow over what we have done.  We retain the power.  We will even use it later to exert power if the individual is still hurting.  “Well I said I was sorry” seems an entirely prideful statement.  It seems that we more want out from under the ramifications of what we have done wrong.

In the same vein we must be very willing to offer forgiveness from a place of humility.  When we are given the power to forgive or not forgive we must remember how in need of forgiveness we are.  If we think we do not need forgiveness at a deep level we need only ask those closest to us.  Once given this power we need to use it lovingly and with great grace. 

Both seeking and granting forgiveness must come from a place of humility.  Failing this we will not achieve true reconciliation.  I think that failure to own our wrongs or forgive the wrongs of others puts in place a barrier between us and God.  If we act out of pride we cannot see our need for redemption.  We do not trust God to handle things.  We begin to question his place in things.  Forgiveness is both a motivator and feeder for faith.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store."