Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

Colossians 3:13

How often do we feel someone has wronged us? How often do we have a complaint against someone? How often is a mistake made towards us?

More often than we may realize.

It’s human nature to get on each other’s nerves. Personalities clash, people make mistakes and forgiveness needs to be extended.

But why? Why forgive?

Colossians 3:13 explicitly says we need to forgive because God forgave us. God doesn’t just arbitrarily asks us to do things though. He knows that when there is animosity between people it creates division.

God didn’t want division between himself and his people, so we shouldn’t divide ourselves from each other. Forgiveness is the only way we can reconcile and move forward.

It’s more than just trying to be Christlike. God asks us to look to him as the example because when we strive to be like him we create harmony. We all know we can’t live harmoniously with people when we are holding something against them!

We must forgive. For the little inconveniences, like throwing something away you wanted to keep. And for the big issues, even when it feels like you can’t forgive.

It is what God asks us to do because it is good for us! It helps us move on, helps us live with others and reminds us that we also need forgiveness. We are not perfect either and will need others to forgive us from time to time.

I encourage you to extend the hand of forgiveness as often as you can. Let people know you aren’t holding resentment towards them because of something they’ve done. Forgive them just as God forgave you!