Do Hard Things (i.e. Forgive Someone)

In the rush of everyday life, we are losing the meaning of being a Christian! We are not on track with our faith, we are not on course with our walk with God, and we are not using Biblical love in our everyday lives! If we spent as much time reading the Bible, as we did partaking in leisure activities, maybe we would be able to learn what forgiveness means from Christ’s example.

One of the hardest, and yet one of the most important lessons a Christian can learn from the Bible is the lesson of Mercy. All through the Bible mercy is talked about, and pointed out as a necessity to being a Christian. Why? Jesus loved us so much, that he showed us mercy and died on the cross for our sins when we didn’t even know him.

We will know that we are Christians by our fruits. One of the key fruits is love. In 1 John 3:14 we read, “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death.” Love equals life. But we need to realize what kind of love the Bible is talking about.

Josh Harris writes in his book I Kissed Dating Goodbye “The world takes us to a silver screen on which flickering images of passion and romance play, as we watch, the world says “this is love.” God takes us to the foot of a tree on which a naked and bloodied man hangs and says “this is love.”

The love and mercy of the Bible is so amazing it hard for us to grasp. The person who received the same type of whipping that Jesus received often didn’t make it to the cross. The reason for this was that the whipping was so severe that the victim’s intestines usually fell out their back. The cross was an even worse torture.

Jesus went through excruciating pain so that we would not have to experience an eternity of pain in hell. We don’t get the chance in our lives to use that kind of love, but we can use a fraction of that love in our relationship with people. True love is having mercy enough to forgive someone when they’ve wronged you.

More times than not we tend to judge more than love. For some reason we Christians seem to be more capable of distancing ourselves from people who have fallen, then forgiving them and helping them along.

Imagine if God had thought to himself, Well I am going to send my son Jesus down to earth to save sinners, but only sinners with minor sins. Anyone who made an idol for themselves, blasphemed, disrespected their father or mother, killed, committed adultery, stole, lied, or coveted, can’t be saved. All of us would be going to hell. Instead, in his unfathomable heart of mercy, God gave His only begotten Son to take away the sin of the world.

Do something hard, forgive someone with a fraction of the mercy that God has forgiven you.

James 2:12-13 “Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!”

Matthew 5:7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”