Forgiveness?

When one receives shocking news a lot of emotions and thoughts can run through the brain. Well the idea of "forgiveness" has been jogging through my mind ever since I received my surprise of the century.

I had written a post about the emotions I went through after receiving my world rocking news, but I decided to keep that private. At least private until I figure some other things out.

But, back to the word of the day, "forgive." The hamsters in my head started turning their exercise wheels and I thought, what do I know about forgiveness? Well, Jesus forgives us everyday for the stupid things we do from horrific crimes to little white lies. In turn we are supposed to forgive others for their wrong-doings against us.

Colossians 3:13-
You must make allowance for each other's faults and forgive the person who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.

But then I thought what is the fundamental definition behind the word "forgive." So, what do I do when I want to know what something means?

No, I don't wikipedia the answer. I only use wikipedia when I am looking up prominent people, like Corky Gonzales. Don't ask me why?

I looked up "forgive" in the good old dictionary (sorry Webster's dictionary, I used my laptop dictionary for this one). Forgive- stop feeling angry or resentful toward someone for an offense, flaw or mistake. Whoa, wait, hold the phone. Forgive is the action of ceasing to feel anger toward someone. There has got to be an alternate definition some where. What about the part that states, forgive- the action of telling someone that feelings of anger or resent have ceased, but their offenses, flaws and mistakes will be held over their heads until the end of time?

See in my eyes I don't know if I have truly forgiven those who have really hurt me. When I refer to someone that has hurt me I think of pain that person has caused for years, not minor bumps and bruises from everyday life.

I think in my mind I say yes I forgave that person a long time ago, but there is always that part of me in the back of my mind reminding me of all the pain that individual put me through and forgiveness flies right out the window. We may say that we forgive others for their mistakes, but what about the really big mistakes. Sin is sin no matter what, but in the human eye there tends to be a scale that rates sin from one (being not so bad) to ten (being extremely hard to truly forgive).

God has the right to be the angriest of us all. We continually turn our backs on Him and don't give Him the glory He deserves, He takes delight in showing His mercy. This is one of those big God quandaries that I cannot wrap my brain around. How can He just forgive us like that even when we mess up continually? I guess the answer to that is His love for us and in His eyes there are no scales or ratings when it comes to our mistakes.

Micah 7:18-19
Where is another God like you, who pardons the sins of the survivors among his people? You cannot stay angry with your people forever, because you delight in showing mercy. Once again you will have compassion on us. you will trample our sins under your feet and throw them in to the depths of the ocean!


The idea of "forgiveness" will still be jogging around in my head for quite sometime when considering my recent news. I hope I can be like Christ and forgive the person that has consumed my thoughts, but right now all I need is time and prayer.

It's comforting to know that God forgives right on the spot. This is also a good reminder to know that God is greater than all of us.