“Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” – Colossians 3:12-13

Another long stretch, and another scarcity of blogs… I guess I am learning I am not a real blogger yet. But I’ll work on it.  As I look back over the summer and the various encounters I have had with people in the church, in other churches, and the community, as well as reflecting on my own ministry – it is hard not to see the importance of forgiveness.

“Forgiveness” takes on many forms in relationships. In some cases it functions exactly as you might expect. An offense has taken occurred between two people and both parties must decide how they are going to proceed. Will the offended take the initiative and forgive the offender, regardless of their response? Or will they hold out for the offender to come in “proper” humility themselves before they favour them with their grace?  Will the offender recognize the hurt they have caused and humble themselves before their brother or sister and ask for forgiveness? Or is the battle with their ego a Goliath they cannot overcome?  Either way, the need for forgiveness in this case is pretty obvious, and both parties should know their responsibility to live out the Christian walk in this regard.

In other cases forgiveness plays a more proactive and less specific role. The attitude or character of forgiveness might be called graciousness, patience, humility or even tolerance (an often misunderstood term).  These are all forms of “preemptive” forgiveness and go a long way to restoring and increasing joy to our life and fellowship in the body of Christ. This type of forgiveness is the “bearing with one another” kind of forgiveness. It is understanding. It is recognition of the foibles and idiosyncrasies, the unique demands or life situations of our brothers and sisters.  Not everyone is going to respond to us or our ideas, or our ministry the way we think they should. Not everyone is gifted or responsible for every ministry we think they should be.  So we must bear with one another, recognizing the different life stages the Holy Spirit has people in as well.

It is also recognition that the “body” is made of many parts. Feet might occasionally smell a little, but they carry the whole load of the body. Eyes are pretty useless at heavy lifting, but they show the body where it’s going and what its doing. The pancreas is out of sight and lacks glory, but it keeps the body functioning correctly.  We can’t begrudge the parts of the body their different gifts, or harden ourselves against the way God has chosen them to work.  We need all of the body, and each part needs us as well.

I love that God has planned the church this way, and has built in the incredible freedom and joy that comes from releasing others from our own expectations, fears, and limitations. This is the kind of forgiveness that sets us free every day, and cultivating a character of patience, tolerance, graciousness (whatever you want to call it) with others makes it so much easier to truly forgive when the need arises. In fact, the more you give away your expectations (pre-judgments), the less you will find you need to forgive, and the greater your joy will be in ministry and fellowship.