I had to do it – I knew that. The message that God forgives has a prior condition: that we forgive those who have injured us. “Jesus, help me!” I prayed silently. “I can lift my hand. I can do that much. You supply the feeling.”
And so woodenly, mechanically, I thrust my hand into the one stretched out to me. And as I did, an incredible thing took place. The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, sprang into our joined hands. And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes.
“I forgive you, brother!” I cried. “With all my heart!”
For a long moment we grasped each other’s hands, the former guard and the former prisoner. I had never known God’s love so intensely as I did then. —Corrie ten Boom, Tramp for the Lord (quoted by John Ensor, The Great Work of the Gospel, p.147)
I. The Bitterness and Anger We Must Put Away (v.31)
“Past wounds instinctively spring to mind, making forgiveness feel impossible (or at least unnatural). What feels natural is dwelling on the horrible things that others have done to us, rehearsing their wrongs and plotting our retaliation, if only in our imagination. I know. I have nursed my anger as I have lingered over the ways people have hurt me. A close friend who ended our long-standing relationship over a misunderstanding. A woman whom I mentored for years who slandered me to others. My husband who unexpectedly left me for someone else. The doctor whose careless mistake ended my son’s life.” —Vaneetha Risner, “We Cannot Cling to Bitterness and God” (Desiring God blog 3/6/2021)
II. The Pattern and Power to Forgive (v.32)
“Most of our bitterness and anger towards others is rooted in an inability to be profoundly amazed at Christ’s love for us in our sin. If you are struggling with bitterness, then it may be that the Lord is letting the very sin that is flowing from your inability to see Christ be the means by which you come to see him.”—John Piper, “Ask Pastor John”
“The hallmark of a man of God is his sense of his own sinfulness.”—Richard Wurmbrand (Romanian pastor imprisoned and tortured by Communists for 14 years)
“The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.”—1 Timothy 1:15
“If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.”—Psalm 130:3-4