Forgiveness

I looked up forgiveness in the dictionary. Here is one of the definitions I found.

Forgiveness -- the end of blame.

When I think back on all the things I’ve supposedly forgiven, I realize that I still feel the need to blame someone. For example, take the tragedy of 9/11. I think I’ve moved on, forgiven the perpetrators, but I still blame the terrorists.

For every injustice that we have suffered, whether it be in our childhood, marriage, workplace, or community, we feel the need to hold someone accountable. Sometimes we blame ourselves. Other times we blame our parents, spouses, bosses, the economy, the government, or our circumstances. We feel the need to place responsibility for the wrong on someone or something. We like to think of this as “forgiving without forgetting”. This partial forgiveness is all we can muster on a human level.

“In prayer there is a connection between what God does and what you do. You can’t get forgiveness from God, for instance, without also forgiving others. If you refuse to do your part, you cut yourself off from God’s part.” (Matt. 6:14-15 MSG)

Through prayer, we have access to higher powers of forgiveness. We are not limited to the usual, measly, human version of: “Because I’m a much better person, I’m going to overlook that thing you did… for now…but you owe me big-time!” Instead, through God’s grace flowing through us, we are able to sincerely let go of blame. We become a conduit for Divine forgiveness. God forgives, we forgive…God forgives, we forgive….