The Choice to Forgive

Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive. —Colossians 3:13

Nowhere in Scripture will we come upon a secret formula for forgiveness. It’s not a method to be learned as much as a truth to be lived. The concept of forgiveness isn’t foreign to most of us. The problem is that we simply haven’t made the choice to forgive.

In urging you to choose the pathway of forgiveness, I don’t intend to imply that what you’ve suffered isn’t real. I don’t want to belittle or minimize the experiences that have made a painful imprint on your soul. In fact, though some may insist you need to “forgive and forget,” the truth is forgiveness at its best requires that you face how badly you’ve been hurt.

But along the way, as we study God’s Word, we discover this hard yet healing truth: whatever sin has been committed against you, the choice not to forgive is itself a serious sin. In fact, failing to forgive can often bring about problems in your life far worse and more long-term than the pain of the original offense.