For the past couple of posts, I’ve been talking about our spiritual clothing. Paul was writing about it in his letter to the Colossian church. So far, we’ve looked at compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.
Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
Colossians 3:13 NIV
This is probably one of the most difficult to master. We definitely need the strength of the Holy Spirit in us to accomplish it.
Bearing with each other. The original meaning of this is simply, putting up with each other.
It seems this ability has been lost in our generation. So many times I’ve seen people who don’t like what someone said or did. Their first response is to leave the church. They either leave that congregation or leave the Church altogether. That seems to be what so many have done in our society.
The Scripture makes it clear. It’s not just talking about a mistake someone made. The word translated, grievances, means something done that was wrong. They can be blamed for something.
Forgiveness. You have to understand that the church is made up of imperfect people. That includes the leadership. We can’t expect everyone to live up to our standards 100% of the time.
What’s the answer to this? Paul says it three times in this one verse. Forgiveness, plain and simple. Well, simple but not easy.
Know this, the command to forgive is a New Covenant truth. But nowhere in the Old Testament is there a command for people to forgive each other. Why? Because forgiveness is more than just feeling better about someone.
That brings me to a definition that I found in Webster’s Dictionary.
“To cease to demand the penalty for, to pardon.”
That’s what God did for us in Christ. He paid the penalty for all the sin of mankind. That’s why we can receive His full and clear forgiveness. A while back, I did a series of posts on the forgiveness of God. To see that series, click here.
Here’s the difficult part. The above verse says that you need to forgive as the Lord forgave you.
I don’t know about you, but for me, it’s very tough for me to cease to demand the penalty for a wrong done against me. That’s especially true when the person in the wrong is a brother or sister in Christ. After all, they should have known better.
However, when we look at the forgiveness that God showed to us in Christ, the biggest difficulty becomes apparent. We are called to forgive before the guilty party ever admits they were wrong. Sometimes, before they even know they did something wrong.
We can’t live like the world. Society says that you must admit you were wrong and ask for forgiveness. Then, if I believe you’re serious and won’t do it again, maybe I’ll forgive you.
I’m glad that God doesn’t operate like that! His forgiveness was perfected before I was born. Without even knowing it, I was forgiven before I ever sinned. Of course, I didn’t reap the benefit of His forgiveness until I openly asked for and received it.
As God’s people, we need a deeper understanding of the forgiveness of God. Only in that way, will we understand how to treat others the way God want us to. We need to allow the Holy Spirit to clothe us with this ability to bear with and forgive others.
Question: How well have you exemplified God’s forgiveness to those around you?
© 2024 Nick Zaccardi
The Spirit and the Word 