You know I always thought that forgiving others was for yourself. People would say, “How can I forgive them for what they did for me?” And the standard answer would be, “It’s not for them but it’s for yourself. To free yourself from the anger and resentment you feel towards them.” O.K…I get that and I used to always think that was the only response.
However, as I was driving home tonight and listening to the radio, there was a woman who was dealing with unforgiveness in her life and not being able to comprehend how she could possibly forgive when so much injustice had been done to her. She said, “God, do you know what they’ve done?” She said it was as if God turn the question to her and said, “Do you know what you’ve done? Forgive them because I have forgiven you even though you didn’t deserve it either.” She said it was an epiphany for her because she realized that forgiving others wasn’t for them, it wasn’t for her, but, it was for God. It was to honor Him and obey His command to, “Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” (Colossians 3:13b)
Forgiving others isn’t about them, it isn’t about me…it’s about God! He always knows what is best for us. Forgiving others is just one more step that we take to become more like Christ and the person we were meant to be.
