Be A Christian

24 Oct

“To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.”  ~ C.S. Lewis

There are two phrases that seem to be extremely difficult for many people to say.  The first is “I am sorry.”  It takes a lot for us to admit that we were wrong about things.  Admission of guilt is so very difficult because we always want to be right.  We do not like to consider that we may have been mistaken and that we may have caused injury to another.  For others, apologizing is a sign of weakness.  However, we all know that we are not perfect.

The second thing that is so very difficult for people to say is “I forgive you.”  When someone comes to us seeking forgiveness, it is a big thing.  They have determined that they were wrong and they are doing their best to amend the situation.  We know how hard it is to apologize, so we know how they must be feeling.  We know that it may have taken them a lot to summon up the nerve to apologize and we should be big enough to accept the apology.

Accepting someone’s apology means that we need to forgive and to set it aside.  We cannot harp on it or hold it against them.  That is something we are often not prepared to do.  There is something in us that wants to hold things against another.  We want to let them know that they have hurt us and are often unwilling to forgive.

Isn’t it strange that we who want others to forgive us are often reluctant to forgive when people apologize to us?  Yet, all of us have been forgiven by God.  He sent His only Son into the world to die for our sins so that He could bring us back home to Himself.  Given that, is there any reason, any reason at all, that we would have not to forgive another?

FAITH ACTION:  Try to forgive any person against whom you may have been holding a grudge.