"Forgive"

I’ll pay you back just wait and see,

Promised a reckless soul,

Who meant just what he said to me,

When all those words he told.

But something deeper, needed, true,

Saw desperate in his face,

Twas something else that I should do,

And that was give him grace.

Why the grace and not demand,

He pay back like he said,

‘Cause One showed me His nail-scarred hand,

And paid my debt in red.

Pardoned all so I could be,

Forgiven, free of debt,

And if I get it right, you see,

And His power helps me yet,

I’ll pass to him who owes to me,

That debt with all its weight,

I’ll cancel all, forgive as free,

Pass on the grace so great.

Yes, it’s only mine to give,

If I’ve received it true,

But by this grace we choose to live,

Forgiving’s what we do.

Yes, freely we’ve received it,

So freely pass it on,

And, no, we can’t achieve it,

But by His Spirit get it done.

“Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others…” (Colossians 3:13, NLT)

It’s a powerful, recurring theme of scripture. God has given us the healing gift of His grace, cleansing us from every sin, canceling every debt, and forgiving every failure. He asks us to join Him in the ongoing, healing adventure by passing to others what He has freely granted to us. The rub is in the pain that was inflicted when someone did what they did to us. We need forgiveness, and desperately. But we can still be very stubborn when the Lord presses us to give as freely as we have received. We somehow think they will get away with what they did if we forgive them, or it will trivialize our pain. Neither is true. In fact it is because of our pain that we most need to forgive. If we don’t, the pain will embitter our lives and poison all our relationships. For every right reason, give forgiveness. God will help us.

Lord, help us forgive others as freely as You forgave us, in Jesus’ name.

Photo by J.L. Grief, used by permission. Thanks, J.L, and God bless you.