It is your turn. Throughout the scriptures we have seen how God is merciful and forgiving. We have seen how God has granted forgiveness when we have not deserved it. We have seen how God has completely forgotten our sins. God cannot even remember them, though sometimes we can. We have seen how Jesus has come to bring forgiveness to the world. We have seen how forgiveness is a part of God’s very being. God would not be God without forgiveness. Jesus would not be our Lord without the cross. It is all about forgiveness.
We are made in the image of God. So, if God’s image is forgiveness…if Jesus reflected that forgiveness in all he did and said…then I guess we are forgiveness also. We are a people anointed with forgiveness to be the people of forgiveness. So, it is your turn, and my turn. It is our turn to be God’s people of forgiveness.
“Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice…” The wording for “put away” is very rich visually. The writer of Ephesians wants us to pick up and haul off to another place entirely any bitterness in our souls. He wants us to pick up and chuck desires for revenge, and kick away our heated hearts of anger. Also, the writer explicitly desires us to have no more endless arguments and verbal tussles either literally with other people or within, like when you mutter to yourself why people are so stupid. The anger, and vengeful thoughts, and arguments are over. They are gone. They are to be carried away to be seen no more.
It is your turn now to forgive, and mine. And, if we have the desire to be the people of Jesus Christ, we will need to take the time to first stop, consider our resentments, and arguments, and anger against other people, and we will need to find a nice, dark basement where they can be dumped to be seen no more. That is the first step.
Psalm 103 says that God has put all our sins “as far from us as the east is from the west. And as far as sunrise is from sunset…” So, it is our turn to do the same, putting all the hurt feelings and resentments away. We need to clear the way because something new is about to take shape in our lives.
And, the writer knows exactly what that new thing looks like. It looks like being kind and compassionate to one another. “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.” God has forgiven you. It is now your turn to forgive, and mine. Resentment and anger has been replaced with actions that show kindness, understanding, and forgiveness. Notice how I said “actions.” Our actions have been replaced.
The Biblical writers are not talking about your feelings here. You may not feel very forgiving right now, or ever. And, that is the problem. If we waited until we felt like forgiving before we actually did something to show forgiveness, there would be a lot of anger, resentment, and closed doors filling up the world. You cannot simply change your feelings. Your anger is your anger! But, you can change your actions. You can act with kindness to your enemy. You can open your ears and be understanding when you currently do not understand. You can let go of the anger and hurt, and you can forgive even if you do not feel like it. Forgiveness is an action of love. The feelings may come later.
So, the author instructs us to do the things we need to do to “be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another.” Like I said, it is your turn, and mine. It is our turn to be the image of forgiveness that others need to see so that they too can live in the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ our savior.
What do you need to pray that God do for you so that you can be an image of divine forgiveness?
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