"The uniqueness of forgiveness" Devotional for July - Week Three

British poet William Blake once wrote, "The glory of Christianity is to conquer by forgiveness."

Forgiveness is a strange thing indeed. It goes against every notion of common sense, which usually tells us to fire back, twist the knife, and get gratification by making the other party hurt worse.

While Christ spoke of the radical act of loving one's enemies, He also spoke of forgiveness towards our friends and family. Seemingly enough, they often prove to be the most difficult to forgive due to the intimacy of the bonds we have with them.

Let's look at Matthew 18:21-22 which says, "Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, 'Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?' Jesus answered, 'I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times."

This was another radical statement from Christ, in that forgiveness knows no boundaries. In our minds, we like to put up a fence surrounding how far someone can hurt us to prevent receiving our forgiveness. But if we're truly to be "Christ-like" as the Bible says, we should never put a limit on this act.

But why is it so hard to forgive? The answer lies in our own selfishness. We are always right, and they are always wrong... uhh, right? Of course it seems that way to us, but the truth is that pride is a bully to compassion and it's friend humility.

Pride is another one of those tricky words. In one form, "taking pride in..." is something positive, but the pride I speak of is of the negative sort. This kind likes to make us think we're bigger and better than we really are. This is where forgiveness hits a wall built by pride, when we feel the other person should say "I'm sorry" before we do.

Ephesians 4:32 says, "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you."

Did we deserve Jesus Christ dying for our sins? Of course not! One reason why forgiveness is so unique to Christianity is that it is exampled so significantly in Christ and the sacrifice God made. Other religions tend to fail in this department because it has an apparent lack of a model to follow.

Yet Jesus Christ illustrated forgiveness, compassion, and humility in His words and His actions. Unfortunately we don't always mirror Him and our relationships suffer for it. But when we find that moment of clarity outside of our pride-filled picture of life, we see that forgiveness is just a whole lot easier to give away, than it is to hold back.

Amen!