What Forgiveness Requires

The act of forgiveness is a mystery to many people. Indeed, in all reality it is a mystery to all of us, though some of us know by faith the rewards that come from forgiving people, and, knowing the faithfulness of God to this end, we are won to forgiveness all in all.

So, for the person who hasn’t known the powerful blessings received from forgiving somebody or a situation, how are they to believe in this power? Should they be expected to believe someone like us who may have some ulterior motive to convince them of this power?

The only way we can truly believe in the power of forgiveness is to risk enough to see its power.

Forgiveness Requires Commitment to Action

God will not show us this power of his grace until we are prepared to commit to the act of doing something to forgive. We cannot forgive by simply saying the words. Forgiveness requires action. And there is nothing that will ever change this.

Forgiveness is not hard when we consider that sacrificial action will achieve overnight what words alone can’t in a hundred years.

When we recognise what it will take to experience forgiveness, we see forgiveness requires of us that we be humbled before the Lord. Only the person willing to give up their pride can forgive—and they only need do it for as long as it takes to experience the power of this forgiveness, because then, when the power shows itself, we are convinced and we gain something superior to pride.

Forgiving someone requires that we do something we wouldn’t ordinarily do.

Forgiving is about doing something extraordinary; it’s a leap of faith, which is enough to trust God that the action might, of itself, be enough to create an environment of reconciliation.

Why Would We Forgive Otherwise?

We wouldn’t forgive otherwise.

If it wasn’t for self-motivation, for the blessing of the peace of mind we get from forgiving, we would remain unconvinced, no matter what God said about it. But praise the Lord that we have, in forgiveness, a way of reconciling, of restoring, of renewing.

We ought to be very appreciative that the wisdom of God has foreseen the need to bless people who have loved through forgiveness. I am convinced of this: if we act upon the recognition to forgive, we will be blessed by the true feelings that are a product of forgiveness.

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Forgiveness requires action. When we have committed to forgive someone to the point that we act, God shows us his power by the way he blesses us. When we understand forgiveness requires sacrificial action, and we do it, we know a key life skill and life improves in its abundance.

© 2013 S. J. Wickham.