“Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” – Mark 2:7
In his book “Evil and the Justice of God”, N.T. Wright writes: “Forgiveness doesn’t mean “I didn’t really mind” or “it didn’t really matter.” I did mind, and it did not matter; there wouldn’t be anything to forgive at all, merely something to adjust my attitude about. We hear a lot today about people needing to adjust their attitudes to things they formerly thought were wrong, but that’s not forgiveness. If I have a wrong attitude toward someone, and if I need to adjust my attitude, if anything, it’s me who needs forgiveness for my misguided earlier stance. Nor is forgiveness the same as saying, “Let’s pretend it didn’t really happen.”
This is a little trickier because part of the point of forgiveness is that I am committing myself to work toward the point where I can behave as if it hadn’t happened. But it did happen, and forgiveness isn’t pretending that it didn’t; forgiveness is looking hard at the fact that it did and making a conscious choice-a decision of the moral will-to set aside so that it doesn’t come as a barrier between us.”
Jesus is God, and He has forgiven you of all of your sins. Today, in prayer, thank Jesus for His forgiveness and forgive those who have wronged you.
"Humanity is never so beautiful as when praying for forgiveness, or else forgiving another." - Jean Paul Richter
God’s Word: “The other guests began to say among themselves, ‘Who is this who even forgives sins?’” – Luke 7:4
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