Forgiveness:
Some Thoughts on Forgiveness
"The God I loved forgave me of all my mistakes. I know if God could forgive me I could forgive my mom. I think the feeling of peace is just a bonus God gives. A huge burden was lifted off of me.” Biggest Loser winner, Michelle Aguilar
Faith
does teach us that God has a high standard for us, a standard none of us can
possibility attain. In Romans 3:23 Paul
reminds us that “…we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” The good news is that God is full of love,
grace and mercy. He will forgive us if
we accept His gift of grace. If God has the grace to forgive us, we should find
it in our hearts to forgive each other.
We all require God’s forgiveness.
Throughout our lives we are always making withdrawals from God’s Bank of
Grace. Just as God has generously shared
His grace with us we need to extend that same grace to others when they fail
us.
Christians
are taught that God not only wants us to forgive others, He requires us
to. When Jesus was asked to teach His
followers how to pray He gave us a prayer.
This prayer is taught to us in Matthew 6:9-13. In 6:12 the prayer specifically addresses
forgiveness with the words “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our
debtors.”
In
Matthew 6:14-15 Jesus expands on how important forgiveness is when he taught us
that “If you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will
also forgive you. But if you do not
forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”
Biggest
Loser winner, Michelle Aguilar, while explaining how she was able to forgive
her mother for leaving her father, provides a great explanation as to why we
should forgive and the gift God gives us when we forgive. “Unforgiveness made me sick on the inside,
but when I let go, there was a peace God gave.
The God I loved forgave me of all my mistakes. I know if God could forgive me I could
forgive my mom. I think the feeling of
peace is just a bonus God gives. A huge
burden was lifted off of me.”
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