There are times when the choice to forgive is not just a one-time decision. In our human weakness, forgiveness often becomes a repeated decision to lay down our hurt and our desire for revenge. We continually need to die for our rights to “get even.” 

Forgiveness is hard; it is especially hard when the person who has caused us pain refuses to acknowledge it and to seek forgiveness. Other times people don’t realize how their words/actions have hurt us and we have to choose how to respond. There are definitely times to lovingly confront but there are also times to assume the best and overlook the offense. 

Regardless of the circumstances, the process of forgiveness is difficult and can be long. There are times when reminders of past hurts arise that we previously chose to forgive and we have to choose again to lay down our hurts again before the Lord. 

We love because Jesus first loved us.

We forgive because Christ has first forgiven us.

Because He died for us while we were yet sinners refusing to repent, we can be empowered to forgive others when they remain unaware or unwilling to see their need for forgiveness.

Recently I heard forgiveness explained like this: It is choosing to trust that God will make things right in His time- either through the blood Jesus shed on the cross for our sins or if someone refuses to repent, they will have to bear the consequences of their sin for all eternity. This perspective helps us to have compassion on even those who have hurt us the most. 

Forgiveness isn’t ignoring offensives. It is entrusting them to the God who always judges impartially and who always does what is right and just. Because of this, forgiveness becomes a way we can walk by faith. Ultimately we can choose to forgive again and again because we have been forgiven by Jesus and we trust in His promise to one day make all things new again.

While we often struggle with holding past offenses against others, God promises not to remember our sins. For those who come to Jesus in repentance and faith, all of our guilt and shame is gone. God removes our sin from us as far as the east is from the west and treats us as though we have never sinned. He has cast all our sins into the depths of the sea and will never hold our sins against us again. May these precious truths spur us on as we seek to show the world around us where true forgiveness is found and what it truly looks like. May we continue to entrust ourselves to God as we walk in forgiveness.