Forgiveness isn’t a one time deal. Forgiving someone means acknowledging their flaws and accepting them. Saying, “I know you’re this way, but I also know you’re human. IAnd I know I’m human, and Jesus forgives me, and now that I’m complete in Him I can forgive you and love you, all of you, even your flaws.” All relationships are about constant forgiveness, constant grace. Moment to moment, deciding to love them and forgive them for being human. People who are dealing with sin don’t magically stop sinning once you forgive them. People are bound to mess up, to sin, to hurt you.
But you have a choice. You can either put so much of your trust into people and expect so much from them that every little thing they do wrong cuts you like a knife, breaks you down, and scars you…
Or, you can put your entire life into Jesus, and become complete and forgiven and loved. Then, every time people let you down, you can turn to Him for healing and turn then turn to them with forgiveness and love. Let Him fill you, and you will overflow. It’s still going to hurt, but your trust will be in Jesus, not in people. Your need will be fulfilled by Jesus, so that way you can love others without restraint.
It doesn’t mean letting people walk all over you… It means being so fulfilled by Jesus that nothing in this world can keep you from being beloved and from loving others. The world will think you’re crazy. “How can you forgive someone after doing that? They shouldn’t get a second chance.” Well, neither do we. No one deserves even a first chance. But God gives us chance after chance after chance, so a second chance is the least we can do for someone else. Go ahead, forgive someone. Decide to walk in that forgiveness, and when you see what happens, Jesus will be there with three words for you:
Welcome to freedom.
