Can we forgive?

A couple of weeks ago at my community we were talking about being honest, being truthful with someone especially when they are down and are in need of support. Being someone that will comfort people, listen to their ache. We as the “church” lack so much on this.

I feel as though the reason why many of us choose not to share our troubles is because we will be judged. We don’t want people to look at us differently. Think about it, in the worst case possible would you be able to forgive? Knowing what someone has done in the past, would it be possible not look at them differently and trust them fully?

Jesus meets a prostitute at the well. She is in the worst possible place in her life, a woman that has slept around with countless men. Jesus forgives her and loves her. He looks past her filth, and sees her beauty and value in the Kingdom of God. What about the Apostle Paul? “The murderer”, the one that tortured and killed thousands and thousands of Christians. Jesus appeared to him, and forgave him. Jesus did not look at what he had done, but at how beautiful and important he is to the Kingdom. Countless times, Jesus forgives the worst of the worst without passing judgment. He never asked them why they made the choices that they did, but he had pity for where they were at in their lives.

Now here is my point, we all know that our actions are judged by God and that there are consequences to those actions. God, the Alpha and Omega, the Creator has the right to judge. The judging I mentioned above is done by people, brothers and sisters in Christ. I have seen too often when someone is honest and shares their burden only to be judged by why they made that decision. There is no comfort, the love is missing. “Forgive us as we forgive others,” scripture says, but we miss the point. We remember the sin, and forget the part where it says “Love keeps no records of wrong” (1Corinthians 13:5). Love from people is imperfect, but if we pray for the love of God something extraordinary is going to happen. This is an issue that I have struggled with for a long time. We need to love with the Love of Christ.  People don’t share their struggles because they will be judged. We are all humans and we fail, we sin. It’s by the grace of God that we have the opportunity to be closer to Him. “We must be quick to hear and slow to speak” Jas 1:19. As we allow ourselves to be transformed by the grace of God and to fully engage in His word, in a more intimate relationship with Him, we will experience the love that we are all missing.

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