Forgiveness

The giving and receiving of forgiveness can be both an obstacle and an opportunity. Here is why: while waiting for the traffic to clear as I was leaving work one day, I suddenly realized that I had forgotten my wallet inside the office. In my haste to back up I hadn’t noticed that a co worker had pulled their car in behind me. When I backed up, I heard the crunch of metal on metal.

I immediately got out of my car, verified that my co worker and his car were alright and apologized for my carelessness. My co-worker assured me that everything was fine and there was no harm done, that could not be easily repaired. In that instance, I was the one to blame, but I had been forgiven.

A couple of days later I was waiting for the light to change at an intersection. A U-haul truck turning left took the corner a little bit short and in the process took out a portion of my bumper and the headlight on the driver’s side. I had nowhere to go as there were cars behind me and a truck making deliveries at a store was protruding into the street. The driver of the U haul was a young university student who had no experience driving U-hauls. He was just trying to move himself home for the summer. He was clearly shaken and very apologetic. I assured him that I was alright and the car would eventually be alright. In that instance, the U-haul driver was to blame, but I forgave him.

This story taught me some important principle about forgiveness. It is easier to forgive others when we know to what depth we have been forgiven ourselves. I was able to forgive the U-haul driver because earlier in the week, my co-worker had forgiven me. Even greater than our ability to forgive each other, however is God’s ability to forgive us.

The apostle Paul conveys this in Romans 5:6-8 when He says “very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man, someone might dare to die. But God, demonstrates his own love for us in this, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

If the challenge you face today is an inability to give or receive forgiveness, take the opportunity to realize two things. First, it is easier to forgive others when we know the extent to which we have been forgiven by God and by others. But second, a greater manifestation of love is revealed when we realize that Jesus, who has done no wrong, chose to forgive us, even as we were sinning against him. That truth should call us to a higher standard in all of our relationships.

- Terry Harris

Diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy when he was two years old, Terry Harris in the opinion of many experts within the medical and education professions, would never walk, talk, read, write or go to a regular school. It was recommended to his parents that he beplaced in an institution. In 1995 Terry graduated from Brock University with a B.A. in English Literature and obtained a degree in marriage and family therapy in 1999 from Tyndale Seminary.