Forgive? How much?

It seems to me that one of the greatest struggles people who profess to be Christians have is learning how to respond to those who offend and hurt them. Sometimes the offense is small and unintended. At other times you cannot believe what that person has just said to you or about you. Forgiveness, which is commanded by God (Ephesians 4:32), is not easy. It goes completely against our inner sense of justice. We want someone to pay for what was just done to us. So, for starters, here is the first of a few ideas of what biblical forgiveness is and looks like. It is the key to church unity and family relationships. Let's face it, we are sinners who live in a fallen world with sinners, but with a faithful God. I am also more conscious of how you sin against me than I am of how I sin against you. We also have a natural bent to minimize certain personal sin when we have determined the sin against us is greater. I really like the story of the woman who washed Jesus' feet with her tears in Luke 7:36-50. She was weeping, not because she was the greater sinner as Simon the Pharisee thought, but because she understood forgiveness and he did not. He had never done what she had done (at least now outwardly), and therefore concluded he was more righteous than she. He doesn't seem too different from some people in church today. But here is the first point in learning to forgive, and it is not easy to do. Ask yourself when someone really hurts you: "Where is God in this?" Since the other person is sinning against me, God is probably not anywhere around since He hates sin. Except Scripture is very clear that God is right in the middle of the conflict and injury. Joseph in Genesis 50:20 is usually used as the example of seeing God in painful circumstances, and it is an important example. King David also had his share of conflict and being sinned against. In 1 Samuel 24:1-7 he has the chance to kill Saul, but he is convicted in his heart that he would be sinning against God. He refrains as he sees God in the picture. In the next chapter he is deeply offended by Nabal and sets out to kill the guy and everyone associated with him. He is very angry and not thinking straight. Nabal's wife intercedes and David realized what he almost did. Then in 2 Samuel 16:5-10 David gets it right. Sometimes we do. He is fleeing from Absalom and this guy Shimei is throwing rocks at him, cursing, and wishing for David to be dead. Even though David's right hand man wants to kill Shimei, David finally sees God in the offense. His question: How do I not know God did not send Shimei to curse me? It is almost as if David glances over at Shimei and sees God standing behind him with a firm restraining hand on Shimei's shoulder. But God is not looking at Shimei, He is looking at David. He gets it right by God's grace. So, first point: Where is God in the offense? Once we see it we are on the way for the next step. And for an additional good read, click on the above title.