Do you need to forgive someone or ask someone’s forgiveness today?
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Ephesians 4:32
Forgiving Father,
Secular studies have shown that people
who know they are dying
benefit from asking forgiveness
and granting forgiveness
at the end of life.
As Christians, this data does not surprise us,
for you command us to “forgive one another”
as you have forgiven us in Christ (Ephesians 4:32).
While it’s tricky to know how to forgive
someone who has abused or betrayed us,
in Christ, you have given us
all of the kindness and compassion we need to do so.
We must remember that forgiveness is not
minimizing the damage done
or excusing the offense.
It is naming, “You hurt me [in this way]
and I forgive you,
not in my own power,
but in the power of the Holy Spirit
working in me.”
Similarly, to ask forgiveness of another,
we don’t excuse, or minimize, or blame-shift.
We simply say,
“I hurt you by [naming offense],
and I’m sorry. Will you forgive me?”
Forgiving Father, you have forgiven us
our gossip and greediness,
our lust for more and our lack of kindness,
our self-absorption and our self-promotion,
among the long list
of other betrayals
we have committed against you.
Because you have forgiven us in Christ,
help us to practice forgiving
and asking forgiveness,
not just at the end of our lives,
but every day of our lives.
In Jesus’ restoring name we ask. Amen.
Read Ephesians 1:7, 4:32; Matthew 18:21-35; Matthew 5:43-45.
