…bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. (Colossians 3:13 ESV)
Grudges and Faith
My dad used to say, usually when the Detroit Tigers were being utterly defeated, and referring to their chances of still winning, “If it’s happened before, It can happen again.”
Upsets have happened before. That is enough of a reason, perhaps, to believe it can happen today.
It is hard to forgive. Particularly when the offender is not repentant. Particularly when the offender does not acknowledge the wrong, but actually justifies it. Particularly when the offender caused substantial harm, either emotionally or physically.
So often we choose to hold grudges.
We might be saying, in fact, that forgiveness in certain cases is impossible. The knife still cuts too deeply. The tears still flow in the middle of the night. We remember too much to forget or forgive.
But Paul reminds us that some AMAZING forgiveness has taken place in the past. While he might have reminded us of past forgivings like the forgiveness given to Adam, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Peter, and Paul himself, instead Paul writes of the forgiveness that WE have received.
God forgave us. Not lightly, but with cost. Not ignorantly, but with more knowledge than we would think possible. Not naively, but purposefully.
God forgave us with love.
And that is the background of how we can possibly step beyond the chasm of our grudges.
Forgiveness is hard. Forgiveness is unnatural. Forgiveness hurts, it seems, even more than the original offense.
But it has happened before. Believe it can happen again.
Take the faith God grants us.