Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Colossians 3:13
He’s known as the military man whose commencement speech about making your bed every day got 100 million views online. But retired Navy Seal Admiral William McRaven shares another lesson just as compelling. During a military operation in the Middle East, McRaven has sadly acknowledged that several members of an innocent family were mistakenly killed. Believing the family was owed a sincere apology, McRaven dared to ask the heartbroken father for forgiveness.
“I’m a soldier,” McRaven told him through a translator. “But I have children as well, and my heart grieves for you.” The man’s response? He granted McRaven the generous gift of forgiveness. As the man’s surviving son told him, “Thank you very much. We will not keep anything in our heart against you.”
The apostle Paul wrote of such generous grace: “As God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” (Colossians 3:12). He knew that life would test us in various ways, so he instructed believers in the church at Colossae: “Forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you” (v. 13).
What enables us to have such compassionate, forgiving hearts? God’s generous love. As Paul concluded, “Over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity” (v. 14).
Why is forgiveness generous? Whom will you forgive today?
Please grant me today, forgiving God, Your generous will to forgive.
Find peace through this class on forgiveness.
INSIGHT
Colossians 3:12-14, which includes a list of virtues we’re to clothe ourselves with, helps us to see that love isn’t an accessory in the wardrobe of the believer in Jesus but the main piece: “Over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity” (v. 14). Elsewhere, Paul’s list of the evidence of the Spirit’s work in our lives begins with love: “The fruit of the Spirit is love” (Galatians 5:22). Peter highlights the primacy of love in the community of believers with these words: “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). On the eve of His crucifixion, Jesus stressed the supremacy of love by saying, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34-35).