Be Forgiving
Donna needed help. Company was coming. Her children were young. She had errands to run. Now living far from relatives, she had no choice but to ask for help. As she asked around the community she heard about Janet, a neighbourhood teenager who was known to do some light housework to earn pocket-money.
Janet showed up at the appointed hour. Donna explained what she wanted her to do, paid her in advance and left to do her errands.
When Donna returned two hours later, the work had been accomplished successfully and Janet was gone. But something wasn’t right. Donna stood in her kitchen and tried to put words to the unease she felt. As she looked around, she realized that the toaster was missing from its spot. She glanced through the cupboards, though she knew it would not be in any of them.
Leaving her children with the next-door neighbour, Donna went directly to Janet’s house and recovered her toaster. But, more importantly, she also recovered the girl. Instead of distancing herself from Janet, Donna moved toward her in love. She told Janet that she had forgiven her and wanted her to come again to work in her house the next day.
Perhaps out of shock at this unexpected treatment, Janet went to back to Donna’s house as invited. This time, the two worked together and into the conversation, Donna wove her own story complete with sin and deceit and God’s forgiveness. After a few weeks, Janet couldn’t resist the offer of forgiveness that Donna talked about and became a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, receiving God’s forgiveness through Him. Donna is one of the most dynamic Christians I know. She freely gives what she has freely received.
Looking at the life of Jesus, we see that though He was often misunderstood and wronged in a variety of ways, he never held grudges against people. In Matthew 16, we see Peter in one of his famous blunders, telling the Lord that He was wrong about His impending death and resurrection. Jesus responded: “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling-block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”
These are strong words of rebuke to be sure, but we never get a sense of Jesus holding a grudge against Peter or anyone else. He didn’t need to because He dealt with people moment by moment. Even at the cross, amidst unimaginable suffering, He forgave His tormenters even as they were torturing Him. (See Luke 23:34)
As we seek to be more and more like Jesus we can expect that God will allow people to wrong us significantly. This permits us to grow into His likeness by forgiving them. Of course, it doesn't come naturally. We'll have to choose to let go of vengeance and bitterness to do it. But think of the benefits of “instant forgiveness.” We cut off the possibility of negative emotions growing in us, poisoning both ourselves and our relationships. We keep the channel to God’s forgiveness to ourselves wide open. We reflect the grace of God to everyone around us. If we want to be like Jesus, we’ll have to learn to forgive as He did.
