Friday; April 24

When we discuss forgiveness, a couple things come to mind.  For many of us, the most important thing is God’s offer of forgiveness to us.  The most special offer made by God to His creation is the willingness to forgive us of our sins.  In addition to God’s forgiveness, there is another important aspect – our need to forgive others.  Not only is it important to our emotional health, our willingness to forgive others is closely tied to God’s willingness to forgive us. 
While each of these elements are vitally important, I think there is a part of forgiveness that is too often overlooked.  Do we appreciate how often others forgive us?  Sure, sometimes this comes when we approach someone with an apology and ask for forgiveness, but there are many more times when people are even more gracious in extending forgiveness to us.  They may overlook our shortcomings.  They may look past our idiosyncrasies they find offensive.  They might even absorb the direct offenses we commit against them and not hold us accountable for them.  I don’t know about you, but when I reflect on this, I come to an embarrassing realization that I need a lot of forgiveness!
When people forgive us, how do we respond?  I hope we don’t take the attitude, “Well they have to forgive me!”; rather I hope it makes a significant impact on our lives.  First, when we hear someone say, “I forgive you” we should respond with “Thank you”.  Our acknowledgement of someone else’s mercy is more than an obligation, it is just plain good manners!  Secondly, the realization that people are forgiving us should prompt us to have a forgiving spirit – not to just those who forgive us, but to everyone we encounter.  Imagine how simple life can be when we naturally accept the forgiveness people offer us and just as easily use it to bless others.  When we live in this way, there is no more need to keep an emotional ledger – we are free to enjoy a guilt-free peace with all mankind.
Think About It!

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