Hennie Symington

For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sin. Colossians 1:13-14

A wise old poet once said: “To err is human, to forgive divine.”  Sadly most of us are pretty human when it comes to forgiveness. The truth is that as we confess our shortcomings, we are already contemplating evil. At times we play down our sins with comments such as: “I was only joking!” or “I didn’t mean it.”

Yet confession of sin and forgiveness are the foundations of our Christian faith. Those are the very reasons that Christ came to live among us and why he was crucified. But it’s not that simple. God forgives but he cannot undo the evil or pretend that it never happened. Sin is contrary to God’s very being. Also, God cannot pretend that our wrongdoings do not cause him deep pain. At the same time, we cannot deny that sin scars us and causes deep anguish in our relationships.

God cannot overlook sin, despite loving us deeply. How then does he manage to reconcile with us? He sent his Son to pay the ransom. Jesus dies on the cross so that we can go free! Forgiveness is indeed an act of God in the truest and deepest sense of the word.

Prayer: Lord, for us it’s almost unthinkable to forgive others unconditionally. That is why you sent your son to do it on our behalf. Make forgiveness the default setting of our hearts. Amen