Forgive as Forgiven

Transcript

Hello, my friend… so glad you're with me today. This is By God's Call — day 64, Forgive as Forgiven.

"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." Colossians 3, verse 13.

Let that land for a moment.

Paul is not writing to people without problems. He is writing to a real community — with real friction, real wounds, real complaints that have been sitting longer than they should. And he doesn't pretend otherwise. He says: bear with one another. There is weight there. There is effort. Living together costs something.

But then he goes deeper. He doesn't just say "forgive." He says: forgive as the Lord has forgiven you. And that changes everything. Because now the standard is no longer the size of the wrong done to you. The standard is the size of what was done for you at the cross.

And that confronts us in an honest way.

Forget how much you were forgiven, and you will start charging others full price. A heart that doesn't remember grace grows hard. It grows demanding, calculating. It starts measuring — does this person deserve my forgiveness? Did they ask enough? Did they hurt enough? But you and I — we never deserved what we received. We never asked enough. And the Lord forgave us anyway. Completely. With no clause for review.

Remembering grace is what keeps the heart soft.

And I need to tell you something important: forgiveness does not begin as a feeling. It begins as a choice. You are not going to wait for the day you feel like forgiving — that day may never come on its own. Forgiveness is an act of the will, a decision made before the emotions agree. And the feelings? They ripen later, like fruit. You choose today. The healing comes in God's time.

There is one more thing I want you to hear.

Holding a grudge is exhausting. It is hauling someone else's stone uphill — you are the one worn down, you are the one paying the price, and it isn't even your stone. And when you finally set it down, you discover something that surprises you: the prisoner was you. Not the person who hurt you. You. Forgiveness sets you free first.

So here is today's call — clear, simple, and possible right now.

Before breakfast, before you check your phone, before anything else — sit for just a moment. Speak quietly the name of someone who has hurt you. It doesn't have to be out loud. Just you and God. And pray this: "Lord, I release this debt — the same way You released mine."

That's it. One name. One prayer. One choice.

You are not saying what happened was right. You are saying you will not carry this weight alone anymore. You are saying you trust that God is the judge — and that you, by grace, are free.

Stay close to God. Pray — then act. I'll see you tomorrow, my friend.