Forgiveness

Monday, January 27, 2025
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Listen while you read: "O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing"1 (Lyrics)

A Revisited Devotional from January 27, 1998

Mark 11:25-26 – And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses. (KJV)

A common theme these days seems to be focusing on forgiving. Several news stories have zeroed in on it and a couple of documentaries have featured people who have forgiven someone and how healing it has been. A woman forgave her husband; a mother her daughter, and so on. In one article, a minister was careful to point out that although it seems to be popular just now to forgive perpetrators "en masse", it is not our place to forgive anyone for something they have done to someone else.

It would be truly wonderful if we could come to a place within ourselves to forgive those whom we deem to have "trespassed" against us. How wonderful for us to be able to look our transgressor in the eye, embrace them with open arms and say, "I forgive you." How wonderful for them to feel our forgiveness.

But just a moment. Is that all there is to it? Do we just have to garner up what it takes for us to forgive them? Is that not a bit righteous? Should we not also ask for God's forgiveness? For when we experience His forgiveness, it enables us to forgive others.

Is there always "the wronged" and "the wrongdoer", or are they at times interchangeable? Have the "wrongdoers" been wronged? Do they perceive things as we do, or did they, in their "wrongdoing", believe either that they had done nothing wrong, or that we or someone else, had done them a "wrong"?

One of the most courageous examples of forgiveness that I remember must surely have been when the mother of a young girl murdered in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, embraced one of her daughter's murderers and forgave her. Our Lord's words echo, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34a KJV) And who among us can say that we, too, can be so forgiving?

We must start young, with the young, and with the "young" things. Forgiving the little things will surely enable us to get to the place where we are able to forgive the larger ones — for ourselves, and for others.

Prayer: Our heavenly Father, guide us in seeking Your forgiveness for our own trespasses, and our own thoughts of being "wronged". Guide us to look within ourselves first, to enable us to forgive others. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, we pray. Amen.

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About the author:

Mary Daniel <marydee@shaw.ca>
Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada

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1 Comment

  • PresbyCan Feedback says:

    Well said Mary.


    Thanks Mary, blessings.


    Great devotional. Always need a reminder on forgiveness.


    It’s so good to read this encouraging devotional again. I’ve been truly twice blessed by your endeavor. Thank you for sharing. Wondering how you are doing these days. I’m relatively well for someone my age. God’s been so good to me. Blessings.


    Good morning, Mary,
    I am praying your prayer. Sometimes it is very hard to forgive. I know that both of us benefit when I reach that point and can graciously forgive. I benefit all the time from God’s forgiveness. I wonder if God finds it hard.
    It must be a little fun to read your own devotionals from awhile ago and remember what promoted you to write them. Thank you. Blessings.


    Good morning, Mary,
    Blessings to you.
    And thank you for writing this devotional on forgiveness.
    I don’t often think of forgiveness.
    I’m more into forgetting mode.
    More into blessing.
    Blessings and wishing you all the best.
    Thanks.


    Dear Mary,
    Thank you for sharing your faith and the understanding our Lord had given you, back then in the 90’s! That was before I knew of these Devotionals.
    I am grateful for yours being reprinted today: the Lord has convicted me through your words and the Scriptures of my need to repent of my attitude on an issue that has plagued me for decades. I thank God for His grace and mercy.
    May He bless and keep you!


    Thanks Mary
    Forgiveness is one of the great cornerstones of our faith, and something I try hard to incorporate into my life.
    Recently I was hurt by some inappropriate words of a friend.
    Coincidentally, later that day we were at a dinner together. When I arrived, I merely put a gentle hand on his shoulder … a gesture of “all is well”…or perhaps, “all is forgiven.”
    A few moments later he began an animated discussion with me that indicated we were back to our former friendship.
    I marveled that all the feelings of forgiveness were initiated by a simple touch … no long awkward apologies needed!
    Forgiveness can be that simple!!
    Blessings.


    Good morning, Mary,
    What a timely and well-crafted reflection. Thank you for sharing and the reminder about the mother in Victoria. I lived in Ontario for 20 years and remember the horror of that murder. A sociology prof at MacMaster University used the case as an example about “girls” committing violence.
    With the recent mass pardon still reverberating on the news in the USA, the true task, calling and process of forgiving with the help of the Holy Spirit is important to share.
    Blessings on your day.

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