“Your forgiveness is like sweet, sweet honey on my lips.
Like the sound of a symphony to my ears. Like holy water on my skin, hey!”
This is the chorus to the song Holy Water by Franni Cain and We The Kingdom. This song highlights that feeling when we accept Jesus, and we allow His sacrifice to wash over us, that lightness it brings to our hearts, and the peace we experience. And this is the first step we take to building a relationship with God.
But what about everyone else? We are supposed to give others the same grace and mercy we received from our Savior.
I have seen many who cannot share that gift of forgiveness, and still think they are walking in a good relationship with God. The Bible offers many verses on forgiveness. Many highlight the blessing forgiveness gives us in our relationship with Him. Time and time again, God pours out His grace and mercy on us.
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered” – Psalm 32:1.
Whose sin is covered. How many of us have been covered by that blessing? I know I am so grateful for that blessing. But we are human. We are flawed. We make mistakes, and we move on. Sometimes those mistakes impact others, or others’ mistakes impact us.
How we react to these things shows a lot about how we view forgiveness. Forgiveness is an intentional decision to release the hurt, the anger, the frustration, the pain, and the bitterness.
It is not easy. It is deliberate. It is not a matter of forgetting or moving on; it means making a choice to do one of two things: if you have been the one hurt, you grant them the same grace God granted you. And if you have hurt someone, ask them for their forgiveness.
Bear with one another and forgive if anyone has a complaint against another. Even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful” – Colossians 3:13-15.
Forgiveness is an act of love. 1 Peter 4:8 tells us: “And above all things have fervent love for one another, for ‘love will cover a multitude of sins.’”
The greatest act of Love was when Jesus laid down his life on the cross. But if you know that even in the moments He hung on the cross, He was forgiving. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34).
That love is a blueprint for everything we are supposed to model. Forgiveness, even in the face of hurt, pain, betrayal, and condemnation. For many, when they are hurt, betrayed, or condemned, forgiveness is the last thing on their minds. They want to shut the door, and they end up allowing all the negativity they experience in those moments to make them bitter or uncaring, and even worse, unloving. But understand that this is not what God wants of His creation.
Jesus makes this clear:
And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. This shows that God can withhold His forgiveness if we close the door on forgiving others” – Mark 11:25.
This is a hard truth: The love and forgiveness that God has imparted to us is not to be hoarded but shared, even when everything in us screams otherwise.
Know that any negative emotion we feel, we are to release and let the love of God heal us so that we may reflect Him to the world. We cannot be His reflection if we do not love as unconditionally as He has loved us.
Take a moment and examine your heart. If you find you are holding onto any unforgiveness, hurt, pain, disappointment, or anything that does not serve you, let it go. Ask God to heal you so that you can walk in His light and be a light in the darkness of this world.
Yvette Asplund gave her life to God and was Baptized in April of 1999 and strives to continue to grow in her relationship with Him.