Train of Thought #2 - Forgiveness

Written January 7th, 2023 at 12am. Published March 23rd, 2024

Part of the “Train of Thought” series. See that link for more information

What a weird thing. Basically someone hurts you and you don’t hold it against them. You don’t seek revenge. You say “You hurt me, but I’m not gonna hurt you or be angry at you.” Why in the world do we forgive people?

It doesn’t really make sense, but there are reasons for it (even other than God says too). One reason I’ve heard a bit is that not forgiving someone hurts you. Holding a grudge isn’t good for you. It kinda like holds you down and can talk over you. It’s true, but we should be careful about making forgiveness something that you do for yourself.

Another reason is that if you want others to forgive you, you need to forgive them. The golden rule basically.

But I think one of the most convincing reasons is that God forgave us. All of us were sinners. We all deeply hurt God. Like imagine your children completely rejecting you. Or your friend rejecting you. That hurts. That’s what we did. Ever single one of us. So what would have made sense for Him to do? Definitely not what He did. Instead of abandoning us, He gave us a second chance (all of us). He did that by sacrificing His son, which is crazy like really crazy.

So why should we forgive? Maybe cause God forgave you so much like you probably can’t even comprehend what we deserved, I can’t.

One last thought, I realized today when talking to a friend (they were talking about how they don’t think they’ll ever be able to forgive someone) that God loves all of us (even the person they couldn’t forgive) and that sometimes that seems unfair, but it should also be comforting: God loves everyone, that means He loves you no matter how bad you are or become. And that’s a comforting thought.

Forgiveness is necessary. God loves us all.