Interactive Gospel
- Forgiving People - by Paul Hazelden
1. Summary
We believe that forgiving people
who hurt us is an important aspect of following
Jesus.
Important? It is key, critical,
essential. Forgiveness is at the heart of the
gospel message. God has forgiven you, and you
now have the ability and obligation to forgive others.
In a more traditional presentation, I would have talked
about 'love' - about the example of Jesus' love, and His
command that we should 'love one another.'
But the word is sadly mis-understood these days, and using
it can so easily be misleading.
The idea of 'forgiveness' captures much of the essence of
the message of love in Jesus' life and teaching...
We recognise we need it ourselves.
We can give it because we have received it from God.
It is a decision and an action, not a feeling.
One of the great strengths of the Christian faith is that
it does not side-step the issue of pain. Yes,
people have hurt you. But revenge will not lessen
the pain, and justice is in the hands of God. And
you have hurt others - should they receive full recompense
from you?
Perhaps the hurt you have given is far less than the hurt you
have endured. But how can you tell? And
how can you be sure? Others have hurt you without
realising they did it, or how badly you were hurt.
It is at least possible you have inflicted pain, perhaps
serious pain, also without realising.
If we are to follow Jesus, we only have one option - to
gratefully receive the forgiveness we need, and to extend that
same forgiveness to all those who have hurt us.
Freely forgiving people is the first step on the path to loving
them as Jesus did.
People sometimes say, 'forgive and forget.' This
is partly helpful, and partly unhelpful.
It is helpful because it makes the point that forgiveness
and forgetfulness are two quite different and distinct
things. We can do either one without the other.
It is unhelpful because it tells you to do something you
cannot choose to do. You cannot choose to
forget. You can, however, choose not to keep on
reminding yourself.
The concept of karma seems to be the main alternative:
the belief in absolute cause-and-effect. If you believe this,
forgiveness is not an option because everything that everyone
does will have its consequences, and nothing can possibly
change that. Forgiving someone else makes as much difference
as shouting at the characters in a book.