First, I don't know Gary Lamb from Adam, so my reactions may be different if I knew him personally... I'm also working from the assumption that this isn't supposed to be tongue-in-cheek. (With all the :)'s he has scattered in and the lack of inflection on printed text and all...)
Part of forgiveness is that you consider the matter over and nothing is owed - no retribution, no restoration, no expectations of an "I'm sorry," or anything else (Matthew 18:35 - some translations have "from the heart", some "unconditionally," some "completely"). Jesus didn't say "I forgive you, but you have to pay me back someday," or "I forgive you, but you have to undo what you have done," or even "I forgive you, but I'm going to remind you of what you did until the end of time." That means you can't say you forgive someone and then go off on a rant on how bad their deed was, or how you are going to get them for what they did, or so on. Forgiveness isn't complete until you let the wrong go.
If you aren't ready or willing to forgive someone, then don't. True forgiveness can be hard. God calls us to forgive (Matthew 18:21-35 is my favorite and most descriptive that I can think of, but also Mark 11:25, Matthew 6:14-15, Colossians 3:13, just to name a few). If you aren't able to do so, empty words just cheapen the concept for the rest of the world. Personally, when I have found myself giving "lip service forgiveness," it always makes me feel very hollow inside too.
First, I don't know Gary Lamb from Adam, so my reactions may be different if I knew him personally... I'm also working from the assumption that this isn't supposed to be tongue-in-cheek. (With all the :)'s he has scattered in and the lack of inflection on printed text and all...)
ReplyDeletePart of forgiveness is that you consider the matter over and nothing is owed - no retribution, no restoration, no expectations of an "I'm sorry," or anything else (Matthew 18:35 - some translations have "from the heart", some "unconditionally," some "completely"). Jesus didn't say "I forgive you, but you have to pay me back someday," or "I forgive you, but you have to undo what you have done," or even "I forgive you, but I'm going to remind you of what you did until the end of time." That means you can't say you forgive someone and then go off on a rant on how bad their deed was, or how you are going to get them for what they did, or so on. Forgiveness isn't complete until you let the wrong go.
If you aren't ready or willing to forgive someone, then don't. True forgiveness can be hard. God calls us to forgive (Matthew 18:21-35 is my favorite and most descriptive that I can think of, but also Mark 11:25, Matthew 6:14-15, Colossians 3:13, just to name a few). If you aren't able to do so, empty words just cheapen the concept for the rest of the world. Personally, when I have found myself giving "lip service forgiveness," it always makes me feel very hollow inside too.