Put on Forgiveness

by Skip Heitzig | April 12, 2024

I was thinking about these verses in preparation for a message:

"Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection" (Colossians 3:12-14).

In the Greek, put on here is the same verb used for putting on clothing. And it dawned on me that forgiveness really is the logical result of all the other things the apostle Paul told the believers in Colosse to put on. So, when you're merciful and kind and humble and meek and longsuffering and forbearing, you will forgive. That's the logical result.

You will never have an enduring relationship of any kind of quality without forgiveness. If you want to be able to look back over life with someone and say, "Wasn't that a great ride?" you have to learn forgiveness. Otherwise, your life is just going to be a pile of broken relationships. Some people are great at holding a grudge and never letting it go, and they are the ones who get hurt. If you’re holding onto resentment, it's going to hurt you more than anybody else. And you're going to be in prison for the rest of your life.

You’ve probably heard of Corrie ten Boom. She and her family hid Jewish people in their home in Holland during the Nazi occupation. When the Ten Boom’s resistance was discovered, they were imprisoned and then transferred to a concentration camp where Corrie’s entire family died. After the war, Corrie became a beloved Christian writer and speaker.

On one occasion when she was telling her story at a church in Munich, a man came up to her afterward. She immediately recognized him as a guard at the concentration camp. As they stood there, former prisoner and former prison guard, he said, "I beg your forgiveness. Please forgive me." Corrie responded by putting her hand out "mechanically, woodenly." She recalled, "When I grabbed his hand, a warmth came over me. A love came over me. A forgiveness came over me. And I genuinely felt pity for him." She looked him in the eye and said, "I forgive you, brother." About this remarkable experience, she wrote, "To forgive is to set a prisoner free and to discover the prisoner was you."

Look again at verse 13. "Even as Christ forgave you, so you must also do." The moment you feel offended by someone—at that moment—let it go. Say, "Lord, I choose to forgive. Help me to forgive and let that go. I forgive." Even if it feels wooden, even if it seems mechanical, just start there. This instruction is mirrored in another of Paul’s letters. "And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you" (Ephesians 4:32).

When you are filled with love, it's obvious to the world. When you clothe yourself with "tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another," and you tie it all together with love, people will notice your life. And they'll think, I don't know much about Christianity, but I want the kind that person has. I want that kind of Jesus.

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