What Does the Bible Say About Forgiveness? (Ephesians 4:32)
A man kept a letter in his desk drawer for twelve years. Every time he slid that drawer open, the old anger rose up fresh, like it happened yesterday. He told himself he had every right to hold on to it. Maybe you have a drawer or a file in your mind that replays when you think of that person, or that situation.
Forgiveness is one of the hardest things God ever asks of us. It is also one of the most freeing. Paul said it plainly in Ephesians 4:32. “And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.”
The Command
Paul does not suggest forgiveness. He commands it. The word he uses means to release a debt, to hand back what someone owes you. We forgive because we were first forgiven. When Peter asked how many times he should forgive his brother, he thought seven sounded generous. Jesus answered seventy times seven (Matthew 18:22). Heaven keeps no ceiling on grace, and it asks us to do the same.
The Cost
Forgiveness is never free. Somebody always pays. When you forgive, you absorb the loss instead of demanding payment. That is exactly what the cross did. Jesus “bore our sins in His own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24). He did not pretend the wrong never happened. He paid for it. Real forgiveness looks the offense square in the eye and chooses to let it go anyway.
The Cure
Bitterness is a poison we drink hoping the other person will suffer. Paul knew that. One verse earlier he wrote, “Let all bitterness… be put away from you” (Ephesians 4:31). Forgiveness is the cure. It opens the cell door, and then it shows you who the real prisoner has been all along. The man with the letter finally burned it. He said the smoke carried away years of weight.
You may never get an apology. You can still be free. So open the drawer. Hand it to God. Let Him do what He has been waiting all this time to do.
And that, friend, is how God lifts up your day.
Keep Looking Up!
Pastor Rodney
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- What Is Grace, Really?
- What Does It Mean to Be Born Again?
- Rachamim: The Hebrew Word for God’s Compassion
- Why Did Jesus Have to Die?
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Books by Pastor Rodney Coe
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