Lessons on Forgiveness
Corrie Ten Boom once said, "Forgiveness is an act of the will, and will function regardless of the temperature of the heart."
Forgiveness is at the heart of who we are as followers of Christ. Obviously we affirm and trust in the forgiveness of God, but likewise we are called to practice extending and asking for forgiveness with our fellow humans. In our age of outrage postmodern culture forgiveness has fallen out of vogue. It was just a few years ago when forgiveness was seen as a virtue. Now, it is seen as an act of evil to forgive others with whom you disagree. Forgive others if they disagree on the meaning of marriage? Never. Forgive others who voted for the other political candidate? Absolutely not. Forgive others who believe differently on how to respond to acts of violence? It would be evil to forgive them.
We've all become such social justice warriors that everything has turned into a life or death situation. Every topic is simply too important a topic to extend forgiveness. But Jesus taught something very different. Jesus taught His followers to forgive. Forgiveness is not optional for followers of Jesus.
