Discipleship Devotional, April 3rd, 2025
“Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.”
— Colossians 3:13 (KJV)
The subject of love cannot be taught without teaching the subject of forgiveness. We cannot effectively learn to love without learning to forgive. God’s love toward us is clearly expressed in how far He chose to forgive us. God’s love was demonstrated in how far He went in order to forgive us. He went as far as not sparing His Son, Jesus Christ, punishing Him on our behalf, just so He could freely forgive us.
So, having received the love of Christ into our hearts, we are now capable of forgiving others. In fact, the more we know about how much we are forgiven, the more we should be able to forgive others. Love and forgiveness go hand in hand. You must be ready to forgive the people you love because they are the ones who have the power to hurt you. Someone you don’t care about will not be able to hurt you as much as someone you care deeply about. This is why you must learn to forgive. Our anchor verse says we should forgive others just as God has forgiven us for Christ’s sake.
“And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”
— Ephesians 4:32 (KJV)
Christ has laid a great example for us; we ought to follow that example of forgiveness. Christ didn’t hold people’s sins against them, so we also should not do so. In Matthew 18:21–22, Peter asked Jesus how many times he can be offended till he stops forgiving. Jesus basically said infinity. This means that we should never get to a point where we cannot forgive. We should basically always forgive.
If it’s a recurring toxic offense from a particular person, you may not necessarily need to have that same person in your space, but you ought to genuinely forgive from your heart.
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, thank You for putting Your Holy Spirit in me, who grants me the power to freely forgive people.
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