Forgiveness displays love
Chapter 11
by Gini Crawford, MSW
The Love Chapter
First Corinthians chapter thirteen has been called the Love Chapter of the Bible. Below is the passage that specifically describes God's love, and how we should love.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NIV®
In 1 Corinthians 13:5, one of the ways God's love is described is that love, "keeps no record of wrongs". What does this phrase mean? We could say, it's a verbal picture of a bookkeeper writing down numbers in a ledger to keep an exact accounting, and then watching the account. Sounds efficient doesn't it? Yet, when we apply it to forgiveness it backfires on us. It puts a list in your mind of all the wrongs or perceived wrongs someone has done to you. Simply put, if you love someone you will not keep an account of the wrongs they did to you, but you will erase or forgive their wrongs in your mind.
I was friends with a neighbor years ago, who seemed to keep a mental record of what someone did or said that she didn't like. How did I know? She would talk about what this neighbor or that neighbor did to her frequently. It was obvious, the result in her mind was remembering a record of wrongs. From 1 Corinthains 13:5 we could say, a loving person will not write down in their mind or on paper the wrongs done to them. Do you mentally keep records of the wrongs done to you?
Delete a wrong suffered
How do you not take into account a wrong suffered? When someone does an offense against you, do your best to stop keeping a mental record of the wrong. Definitely, don't start planning a way to get back at them. This mental plan of revenge will make forgiveness impossible. Instead, ask God to give you the desire and strength to forgive the wrong. Additionally, if you are familiar with the person, then I would highly recommend you write down all the positive things this person has done for you. This makes loving and forgiving a lot easier.
Nowadays with technology, many wrongs done to us are already written down, such as a rude email or a mean text message. I have found the delete button is handy for forgiving, so I don't go back and look and look and look, making myself madder each time I look. Can you relate? If you are struggling with forgiving, remember, Jesus Christ didn't take into account your wrongs, but died for them so He could erase them and show love to you (2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 8:12).
Life Application
Love and forgiveness
Jesus tells us, we should love God and love others. Jesus emphasized that those two commandments were the most important commandments to be doing. Loving God and others relates to forgiving them.
... "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: '...Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." Mark 12:28-31 NIV®
God commands us to love but many people are hard to love. You get along with most people, but there is a person in your church who it is hard to even like. She tends to gossip about you and others. It has gotten to the point, you feel some of your friends won't talk to you because of her. You have talked to her about the untrue things she is saying, but her attitude is, it's your problem. You know you shouldn't hate anyone but this woman is easy to hate. God tells us to love and not hate, so call on Him to help you love and forgive the unlovable.
Do you love God and people by your actions? Read John 13:34-35; 1 Corinthains 13:4-7; 1 John 4:20-21. If there is someone in your life hard to love, ask Jesus to help you love them.
Jesus forgave us out of love even when we didn’t love Him. Read 1 John 4:10. Can you forgive others out of love?
Love and forgiveness go together. How is love like forgiveness?
Prayer: Dear Jesus, some people are hard to love. Help me to love everyone, even the people who are hateful towards me. Let me love them enough to forgive them.