Having completed our study of Spiritual Practices, at least for now, we turn to a new study, this time a study of forgiveness. These posts will run as the early (6 AM Eastern) posts on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The first of these follows now…

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

1 John 3:1

You might wonder what love has to do with forgiveness, if so don’t feel bad, it’s a common question.  What you will discover as this study moves forward however, is that love has everything to do with forgiveness, and forgiveness has everything to do with love.  The truth is that we really can’t separate one from the other.

In the Bible, the story of forgiveness and the story of love go hand-in-hand.  Why did God send Jesus to die for forgiveness of sins? Because He so loved the world! (John 3:16) Think about your own life, don’t you find it easier to forgive your loved ones than you do a complete stranger… or someone you really don’t like very much? I think you would agree that this is usually the case. Yes, maybe love has quite a lot to do with forgiveness after all.

In the verse above, John is telling us that God has so much love for all of us that He considers us His own children; that’s a lot of love. Look at the next sentence. It isn’t just that God “considers” us to be like His own children, in Christ we really are His own children because we have been born again of His Spirit; yes, His love for us is very great indeed.

Having been reborn of God, those of this world can’t always figure us out.  Some might think we are just crazy people always talking about loving others, following Jesus and forgiving people who have hurt us, and by the standards of this world we probably really are crazy.  But for us, having been reborn into God’s household, these kinds of things become second nature as we grow in our faith.

The whole reason for this study of forgiveness is to foster growth in each of us. It is a journey of sorts, more than just the accumulation of knowledge. It is a journey of discovery and understanding, a journey of insight, faith and freedom. When we reach the end of this journey, we might even discover that forgiveness is not merely a teaching, a doctrine or a moral value, for it is a release of things that bind us, hold us back and weigh us down.  In fact, I think we will discover that forgiving others will release us from bondage to our pasts that has held us back far more than we ever suspected.