How does your attitude on forgiveness change when you consider how Christ forgave you?įor more Daily Hope with Rick Warren, please visit !ĭiscover God’s power to change your life! Why is it so hard to offer forgiveness to someone who has not asked for it? How can you move past this? What are the wounds that you’ve been waiting for someone to apologize for but that you just need to accept? PLAY today’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick >

Being wounded requires patience and acceptance, not forgiveness, because the person did it unintentionally. Have you noticed that? But there is a difference between being wounded and being wronged. It was a big deal! If it wasn’t a big deal, just say, “You don’t need to ask forgiveness.” But if it is a big deal, then you need to admit it. If something really requires forgiveness, then you should not minimize it when somebody asks you for forgiveness. You don’t use it for slights that are just minor issues. It really didn’t hurt.” If it wasn’t a big deal, you don’t need forgiveness and you don’t need to offer it.įorgiveness is only for the big stuff. When somebody asks for your forgiveness, you actually cheapen it if you say, “It’s no big deal. Second, forgiveness isn’t minimizing the seriousness of the offense. Nobody had said, “Please forgive me, Jesus, for what they’re doing to you.” He just offered it. When Jesus stretched out his hands on the cross and said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” ( Luke 23:34 NIV), nobody had asked for it. You offer it whether someone asks for it or not. Forgiveness is not based on a promise to never do it again. We’re going to spend the next few days looking at what forgiveness really is, because most people just don’t understand forgiveness.įirst, real forgiveness is unconditional. When you read the Bible and see what God has to say about forgiveness, you discover that all five of those statements are false. When you see somebody hurt, it is your duty to forgive the offender. You haven’t really forgiven until you’ve forgotten the offense.ĥ. Forgiveness includes restoring trust and reuniting a relationship.Ĥ. Forgiving includes minimizing the offense and the pain caused.ģ. A person should not be forgiven until asking for it.Ģ. Before reading further, take a minute to do this little quiz by deciding if each statement is true or false.ġ. We think we know what forgiveness is all about, but we really don’t. “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” ( Luke 23:34 NIV).įorgiveness may be the most misused, misapplied, and misunderstood quality in our culture.

Pastor rick warren on forgiveness