In the life of grace, forgiveness is one of the first blessings we receive from God. It is also one of the most glorious. It is the transition from the old to the new life – the sign and pledge of God’s love. With it, we receive the right to all the spiritual gifts which are prepared for us in Christ. The redeemed saint can never forget, either here or in eternity, that he is a forgiven sinner. Nothing works more mightily to inflame his love, to awaken his joy, or to strengthen his courage than the experience, continually renewed by the Holy Spirit as a living reality, of God’s forgiving love. Every day, every thought of God reminds him: I owe all to pardoning grace.

This forgiving love is one of the greatest marvels in the manifestation of the divine nature. In it, God finds His glory and blessedness. And, it is in this glory and blessedness that God wants His redeemed people to share. When He calls upon them, as soon and as much as they have received forgiveness, they are also to bestow it on others.

Have you ever noticed how often and how expressly the Lord Jesus spoke of it? If we thoughtfully read our Lord’s words in Matthew 6:12, 15; 18:2-25; and Mark 11:25, we will understand how inseparably the two are united: God’s forgiveness of us and our forgiveness of others. After the Lord was ascended to grant repentance and forgiveness of sins, the Scriptures say of Him just what He had said of the Father, we must forgive like Him. As our text expresses it, “even as Christ has forgiven you, so also do ye.” We must be like God, like Christ, in forgiving.

It is not difficult to find the reason for this. When forgiving love comes to us, it is not only to deliver us from punishment. No, much more. It seeks to win us for its own, to take possession of us, and to dwell in us. And when it has thus come down to dwell in us, it does not lose its own heavenly character and beauty. It is still forgiving love seeking to do its work towards us, in us, and through us, leading and enabling us to forgive those who sin against us. So much so is this the case, that we are told that not to forgive is a sure sign that one has himself not been forgiven. He who only seeks forgiveness from selfishness and as freedom from punishment, but has not truly accepted forgiving love to rule his heart and life, proves that God's forgiveness has never really reached him. He who, on the other hand, has really accepted forgiveness, will have in the joy with which he forgives others, a continual confirmation that his faith in God’s forgiveness of himself is a reality. From Christ to receive forgiveness, and like Christ to bestow it on others: these two are one.

Thus the Scriptures and the church teach: but, what do the lives and experiences of Christians say? Alas, how many hardly know that thus it is written, or who, if they know it, think it is more than can be expected from a sinful being. How many think that if they agree in general to what has been said, they will always find a reason, in their own particular case, why it should not be so? Others might be strengthened in evil; the offender would never forgive had the injury been done to him. There are many eminent Christians who do not forgive, and excuses for their behaviour are not wanting. And yet, the command is so ver simple, and its sanction so very solemn: “Forgive one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Eph. 4:32). “If ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive you” (Mark. 11:26).

The Word of God is made of no effect by human reasoning. It is only through forgiving love that God seeks to conquer evil, and therefore we have to forgive even unto seventy times seven. The rule of my conduct should not be determined on what the offender has done to me, but on what Christ has done. Conformity to the example of Christ Himself is a sign that I have truly received forgiveness of sins.

Alas, where is there a church or Christian group in which the law of forgiving love is not grievously transgressed? How often in our church assemblies, in humanitarian endeavours, as well as in ordinary social dealings, and even in domestic life, it is evident that to many Christians the call to forgive just as Christ did, has never yet become a ruling principle of their conduct.

Because of a difference of opinion, opposition to a course of action that we considered to be correct, some real or imagined slight, or because of some unkind or thoughtless word, feelings of resentment, contempt, or estrangement have been harboured, instead of loving, forgiving, and forgetting like Christ. In such, the importance of the law of compassion, love, and forgiveness has never yet taken possession of mind and heart. That law, in which the relationship of the Head to the members is rooted, must rule the whole relationship of the members to each other.

Beloved followers of Jesus, called to manifest His likeness to the world, learn that as forgiving of your sins was one of the first things Jesus did for you, forgiveness of others is one of the first that you can do for Him. And remember that to the new heart there is a joy even sweeter than that of being forgiven – the joy of forgiving others. The joy of being forgiven is only that of a sinner on earth. The joy of forgiving is Christ’s own joy, the joy of heaven. Oh, come and see that it is nothing less than the work that Christ Himself does, and the joy with which He Himself is satisfied, that you are called to participate in.

It is thus that you can bless the world. It is as the Forgiving One that Jesus conquers His enemies, and binds His friends to Himself. It is as the Forgiving One that Jesus has set up His kingdom and continually extends it. It is through the same forgiving love, not only preached but shown in the life of His disciples, that the church will convince the world of God’s love. If the world see men and women loving and forgiving as Jesus did, it will be compelled to confess that God is truly with them.

And, if it still appears too hard and too high, remember that this will only be as long as we consult the natural heart. A sinful nature has no taste for this joy, and can never attain it. But, in union with Christ we can do it. He who abides in Him walks even as He walked. If you have surrendered yourself to follow Christ in everything, then He will, by His Holy Spirit, enable you to do this, too. Before you come into temptation, accustom yourself to fixing your gaze on Jesus, in the heavenly beauty of His forgiving love as your example. “Beholding… the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image from glory to glory” (2 Cor. 3:18).

Every time you pray or thank God for forgiveness, make the vow that to the glory of His name you will manifest the same forgiving love to all around you. Before there is a question of forgiveness of others, let your heart be filled with the love to Christ, love to the brethren, and love to enemies. A heart full of love finds it blessed to forgive. Let, in each little circumstance of daily life when the temptation not to forgive might arise, the opportunity be joyfully welcomed to show how truly you live in God’s forgiving love. Rejoice in how glad you are to let its beautiful light shine through you and others. How blessed a privilege it is to be able to thus bear the image of your beloved Lord.

Prayer: “To forgive like You, blessed Son of God, I take as the law of my life. You who have given the command, also give the power. You who loved me enough to forgive me, will also fill me with love, and teach me to forgive others. You who gave me the first blessing in the joy of having my sins forgiven, will surely give me the second blessing, the deeper joy of forgiving others as You have forgiven me. For this reason, fill me with faith in the power of Your love in me, to make me like Yourself, to enable me to forgive the seventy times seven, and so to love and bless all around me. O my Jesus, Your example is my law. I must be like You. And, Your example is my gospel, too. I can be as You are. What You demand of me by Your example, You work in me by Your life. I will forgive like You. Lord, only lead me deeper into my dependence on You, into the all-sufficiency of Your grace and the blessed keeping which comes from Your indwelling. Then, I will believe and prove the all-prevailing power of love. I will forgive even as Christ has forgiven me. Amen.”