Has anyone ever made you mad? I don't mean irritated. I don't mean annoyed. I mean MAD! I mean really really mad! I mean nose snortin', foot stompin', door slammin' MAD! Like maybe they broke your Iphone, or made fun of you at school, or shoved you into the lockers. Maybe they stole from you. Broke your heart. Broke your bones. So you get mad. Of course you do! Anybody would. And you go to your best friend and tell her all about it, expecting her to agree when you say that no good so-and-so better watch his back 'cuz I'm gonna get him! And instead she says, "You've been stewing over this for days/weeks/years. Sure are giving him a lot of power over you. Don't you think it's about time you forgave him and moved on?
At first, you're mad at your friend for not taking your side, but you can't deny the truth of what she said. So you let it go and feel so much lighter! It feels good to forgive.
There once was a young man named Steve who carried around a lot of guilt. He had made a stupid decision when he was in college, and that decision resulted in some unpleasant consequences that left him reeling with guilt and shame and depression. Luckily, he had family and friends who loved him and stood by him, and, in time, he was able to move on. But, somewhere, deep inside, there was still a nagging fear. "They wouldn't love me if they knew what I had done."
Steve carried that fear for 10 years. And then, one day, he told his "secret sin" to a group of friends from church. One of the men looked Steve right in the eye and said, "I forgive you." And Steve's heart broke wide open. It wasn't so much that the friend forgave Steve. It was that he represented God, and when Steve's friend said the words, "I forgive you" it was like Jesus had said it himself. In that moment, Steve knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that God knew him. God knew Steve inside and out. God knew exactly what Steve had and had not done. And God forgave Steve. And Steve was finally able to forgive himself.
It feels good to forgive. And it feels good to be forgiven.
"Your kingdom come." Jesus prays, "Your kingdom come, O God." Forgiveness starts in God's kingdom. It starts with God forgiving us. Then we who have been forgiven begin to pray that all people will be forgiven. Forgiveness starts with God wanting us to experience grace, and then we find ourselves changed. Instead of condemning others, instead of wanting to get even with them, we find ourselves wanting others to experience grace, too. We want the people we love to know that God loes them, too. And we want the people we like to know that God likes them, too. And, in time, through prayer, we will even begin to want the people we do not like to know that God loves them. In fact, through prayer, we may be surprised to discover that we love them, too.
That is why we pray to forgive. Because everyone needs forgiveness. And the more we are forgiven, the better able we are to forgive.
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