FORGIVENESS

In the 1993 movie, Groundhog Day, Bill Murray plays the part of a man who lives the same day over and over again until he learns some important lessons. Day after day he wakes up to exactly the same circumstances as the day before. His hedonistic exploits result in extreme frustration, but even his attempts at suicide cannot deliver him from the day in which he is trapped.

This is a great illustration of what happens when we refuse to forgive. Ephesians, Chapter 4, says: Do not let the sun go down on your wrath. (Ephesians 4:26 NKJV). If we refuse to forgive, the sun will, in a figurative sense, never go down on our wrath.

The scriptures declare that God gets angry when he sees sin and violence, but He never allows His anger to overshadow His love or His forgiveness. Some sins seem truly unforgivable to us, but when Paul encourages us to forgive, he is not talking about justice; he is talking about healing. Every victim of injustice has a right to a period of anger, but every victim also has the opportunity to heal through the love of Jesus Christ.

Therefore, Paul goes on to say: Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:31-32 NKJV).