Agape includes forgiving

Agape includes forgiving. Very few things are more difficult than forgiving. It is perhaps the hardest thing that the Christian has to do. We must forgive "our debtors," as God forgives us "our debts," the Lord's Prayer reminds us. Why are you to forgive? So that you "may be the children of your Father which is in heaven."

It is not promised that forgiveness will "work." Jesus does not say, "If you forgive your enemy, then he will stop being your enemy, and love you." Perhaps the enemy will take your forgiveness as a sign of weakness and pummel you all the more. You have to take that risk. You are to forgive, not because it "works," but because God forgives you; forgiving love toward your fellow men is your response to God's forgiving love toward you. This is exceedingly important. When you say, "What she did was simply unforgivable," you are voicing a sentiment that everyone has felt, but it is not a Christian sentiment. The whole point of forgiveness is that you are to forgive just what seems "unforgivable." Otherwise love is not real. You have erected a barrier between yourself and the other person which prohibits the close relationship that forgiving love makes possible.

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