12 Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,13 bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive. (Colossians 3:12-13 CSB)
When you are called upon to forgive another does your mind take you to the place where Christ paid for your forgiveness? Probably not. In the heat of the moment we are typically only focused upon what has been done to us and our typical lack of forgiveness for others.
Everything begins with the fact that we are dearly loved.
Thus, we need to consider others failings within the same aspect of one who is both forgiven and dearly loved.
My son called me this morning for advice on dealing with a confrontational situation with his work. My go to here is always the same, ”stick to the facts, remove the emotion.” Our human emotions are what causes us more conflict and less forgiveness than anything else. We focus on how we feel and not what might have caused the situation. We are more interested in getting what makes us feel justified rather than looking at or addressing the root cause.
We cannot know the underlying reason for others actions, no matter how well we know them. When we react based upon our emotions and not in loving acceptance of another how can we hope to show forgiveness? How can we hope to bear with one another?
