“Forgiveness” has been a recurring theme lately. We’ve been studying that in our Sunday Night bible study the past two Sundays, and the closer we get to Easter, the more the topic of “forgiveness” seems to pop up.
Forgiveness is a central theme of Easter. God, in His grace and mercy, FORGAVE us of our sins and sent His Son as the final sacrifice for sin so that we could be able to receive His salvation. Marriage, like Easter, is also permeated with the theme of forgiveness.
You’ve heard the saying, “A happy marriage is the union of two good forgivers.” (Ruth Bell Graham.)
When we are as close and vulnerable with someone as we are with our spouse, there will be many opportunities to forgive, believe me! When you live with the person that has the ability to most easily hurt or offend you more than anyone else on the planet – because of the closeness of the marriage relationship – you can guarantee that eventually it will happen. It may or may not be on purpose, it may even be all on our own end and the offense we took at something that was not actually wrong on their part. But for the sake of the marriage, because God wants us to forgive, and out of love for the other person (that’s the hardest part right there, because when we’re hurt we don’t always want to go there,) we must continually seek to forgive and reconcile and improve our marriage relationship.
Forgiveness isn’t letting the other person get away with wrong behavior – it’s letting go of the feelings that arise and not letting them control us. It’s looking beyond ourselves and looking at the bigger picture. The opposite of forgiveness is bitterness. When you hold a grudge, when you refuse to let go of the negative feelings, it will make you bitter. Bitterness can kill a marriage. Forgiveness can heal it.
Forgive.
Background Image Source: Cross In a Cemetery by George Hodan, Public Domain
