Law of love
43 “You have heard that it was said, You must love your neighbor[a] and hate your enemy. 44 But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who harass you 45 so that you will be acting as children of your Father who is in heaven. He makes the sun rise on both the evil and the good and sends rain on both the righteous and the unrighteous.
Reflection
Could there ever be anything harder than finding true forgiveness? I think not! I think that we all struggle with this; God’s hardest commandment.
Actually, forgiveness isn’t really ever “found” at all; it is offered and accepted by God first, not by us. But I think of our Lord, who despite having his earthly body “broken” by the world, Christ forgave us! It didn’t really need to be “found,” because forgiveness was always there, always available. We just have to accept it. We just have to live it as if it were not an option. We just have to live out forgiveness as if it were to be expected and mandatory.
Wait, what if all that were really true? What if forgiveness was never an option and we just had to see it as a reality– but a happy reality, as something that would just have to happen. What if the power of forgiveness was seen as a strength, instead of a weakness within our characters?
As I write the above words, I think of an exercise I once found in a parenting book. It recommended that when two kids fight, that they be put together on a bench to stay there until they realistically apologize, hug, and then make up–a shade of brilliance that I wish I’d thought of.
To expect that forgiveness is a must also means knowing that life is not an option without having forgiveness be a part of if. Instead of thinking of forgiveness as a possibility, we expect that forgiveness will happen and consider what we must do to make it reality. In long-standing, healthy relationships, isn’t this really the mentality that is needed? I am not saying that we have to always accept someone’s behavior, just that accepting that “forgiveness” is a must, changes our responsibility to make forgiveness happen.
by Barbara Carlson
For Pondering and Prayer
Who or what shows you a remarkable example of strength in forgiveness? Who reminds you that in your life as a Christian, God expects that forgiveness becomes a part of who we are as people of God? How does this change your perspective?
Prayer: Gracious God, Thank you for your loving presence. Thank you for all the small and big reminders to accept others and to forgive them whenever and however we can. We are called to forgive, just as you have forgiven us. Even when we humanly struggle, You, in turn, love and forgive all our transgressions despite the world’s insistence on turning their back on you.