The Best Gift to Give

 

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I have received some amazing gifts in my life. My wife was a gift, my boys were gifts, Hey we all love gifts… but the greatest gift I can receive outside of the gift of salvation is something I can only receive from you and something only I can give to others. 

 

 

 

 

Ernest Hemingway grasped some of the difficulty that characterizes relationships between fathers and sons in his short story, The Capital of the World. The story revolves around a father and his teenage son Paco, set in Spain. Paco was an extremely common name in the Spain of that time. With desires to become a matador and to escape his father’s control, Paco runs away to the capital (from which the title is derived) of Spain, Madrid.  His father, desperate to reconcile with his son, follows him to Madrid and puts an ad in a local newspaper with a simple phrase:

“Dear Paco, meet me in front of the Madrid newspaper office tomorrow at noon. All is forgiven. I love you.”

Hemingway then writes, “the next day at noon in front of the newspaper office there were 800 “Pacos” all seeking forgiveness.”

The world is full of people in need of forgiveness and reconciliation. The model for such forgiveness is most profoundly found in Jesus Christ.

 

forgiveness is such a great gift to give! 

 

Eph. 4:32

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Mark 11:25

And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

Luke 17:3-4

Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”

Luke 6:37

“Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven;

Matthew 6:14

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,

Colossians 3:13

Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

 

What is interesting when you read the verses on forgiveness in the bible… and there are a lot - it has very little to say about forgiving people when they asked to be forgiven NOR does it say much about waiting for someone to come ask you for forgiveness. 

 

Forgiveness wether you need it or you need to give it is solely up to you to act first.

 

But lets focus on you telling others you forgive them…

Wow how arrogant right? Not really, it is humbling for you to go do that. 

Here are reasons you may not do that:

  -  They didn’t even know they hurt you

They may act indifferent and not receive your forgiveness

  -  They may laugh or even mock you

They might accept it awkwardly… but not sincerely

  -  They may tell others about you and how sensitive you are

 

… ok ok there are a million reasons not to. Why should you? Well First God says to… pretty strong one right there.

But you forgive others for yourself. You don’t need to carry that burden.

But finally… there are those times where people know they hurt you and they feel simply unable to go to you because they don’t know how YOU will react.

 

I recently went to someone - and yes it was via text, but still reached out to them to ask for forgiveness from them because I found out I had hurt them. It was fantastic, it not only brought healing to them, but strengthened our relationship… and let me be clear - I did not know I hurt them until a few things became clear. 

 

But may I say the most important thing in all of this is that you embody the heart of Christ….

 

If anybody should not forgive, if anybody should wait for the other to come and ask for forgiveness, if anyone should point out that we are just going to do it again… well Jesus could and even have the right to do that.

But while we were yet sinners…. he came to us, died on the cross to forgive us… wether we choose to receive it or not.