Thought of the Day 06.23.09

I recently had a lengthy conversation about forgiveness with a friend of mine in which I was encouraging him to be more forgiving than he wanted to be. Basically, he didn’t want to forgive someone who might not be truly repentant. Observing that even God doesn’t receive everyone into heaven, he argued, “What, are we supposed to be more forgiving than God?”

I pondered that for a little while before realizing that not only are we supposed to be more forgiving than God, but that the very heart of Christianity is built around the idea that we are supposed to do many things differently than God precisely because we aren’t Him. Since God alone can know the true heart of someone, I am told to forgive people lavishly, even recklessly. Since God alone can be trusted to execute justice, I am told to refrain from taking my own vengeance.

So, yes, we are supposed to forgive more than God and punish less than God. But all this really means is for us to start believing that He will always be a better God than we are.