Whenever, as a child, I complained to my grandmother of some heinous crime that one of my sisters had committed, my grandmother would respond, “But she said she was sorry, and so we don’t speak of it again. It happened, and it is over with.” The message to me was that forgiveness is a lifestyle. It has a pattern and perimeters. An offense occurs, repentance follows, and forgiveness causes it to vanish. I think that my grandmother knew herself to be forgiven by God, and that made her confident in making forgiveness her lifestyle. She didn’t sympathize with me,or even acknowledge that I had been grievously wronged, but simply closed a door and opened another, healthier door.

David wrote in Psalm 51, “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” Part of the reason that God chose David as a “Man after His own heart” ( 1 Samuel 13:14) is hidden in this psalm. Here the psalmist acknowledged his wrong doing and wrong spirit. He bemoaned the loss of joy and gladness. He expressed the condition of all of sinful humanity in the face of our creator God, and held onto the hope of remedy and reprieve from God Himself. David knew that he could not help himself, and that God alone could make him, and us, clean. David’s intimacy with God enabled David to believe that, in spite of his own emptiness, God could and would fill him with His grace and life. He knew that forgiveness would bring joy and relief from sorrow and dismay..

Centuries later, after the birth of the one whom Isaiah had called “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace,” the child would grow up to fulfill all the words of the prophets. The man Jesus taught his disciples, as well as us, a prayer that included , “ forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.” (Matthew 6:12), and then he demonstrated the extent to which he would go to secure forgiveness for his people, by accepting death on the cross. The stakes are literally infinite, as Jesus’ words were received by his Father God: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)

Forgiveness holds together families, friends, and even nations. It is connected to our eternal destination. It is the lifestyle of God, which he seeks in us.

Love in Him,,

Prue