Forgive As God Has Forgiven You

“And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” Ephesians 4:32 [KJV]

This is a commandment. But if you only see it as another commandment that you have to keep, you will fail. There is a very important principle here. Trying to forgive others, without understanding how God has forgiven you, will not work.

In Matthew 6:14-15, Jesus said, “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

That is a very serious statement, and it should put the fear of God in you, but Jesus was not teaching here how to forgive. The prospect of not being forgiven certainly ought to motivate you, but that still will not be enough. Until you know the forgiveness of God in your own life, you will ultimately fail at forgiving others. Though you know you are commanded to forgive, try as you may, you will hit a limit of what you can forgive.

Forgiveness cannot be separated from love. True love… God’s kind of love goes way beyond reason. God’s kind of love, and His kind of forgiveness, does not calculate fairness. If you are stuck on fairness, you do not understand the love of God, and you will be unable to truly forgive others.

If someone just refuses to forgive, they don’t know God. “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” 1 John 4:8 [KJV] Love forgives.

If you want to forgive, but it just seems too hard, you don’t really know God as He wants you to know Him. Start by asking the Lord to forgive you. Then ask Him to show you just how much He has forgiven you. When you see and understand the “unfairness” He bore, so that you could be totally free, you will then be able to see others as God saw you, and forgive as you have been forgiven.