Having the Grandeur to Forgive and Forget

Hold your tongue

Holding my tongue is easier said than done some days. Someone says something and off I go. I react. I speak. I regret it.

God’s wisdom teaches me to pause. I should forgive what they say. I should forget what they say. Many times we forgive but we don’t forget.

If I can forget it, I am truly liberated and free.

His wisdom teaches me to pause. Rather than respond I need to forgive first. Then I need to forget. Then I have nothing left to say about the offense that started everything to begin with.

God’s goal for me is that I know how to hold my tongue.

Smart people know how to hold their tongue; their grandeur is to forgive and forget.

Proverbs 19:11 (The Message Bible)

Forgiveness is also an essential part of the life of disciples of King Jesus.

Ephesians 4:32 commands, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in the Messiah God forgave you.”

Similarly, Colossians 3:13 says, “Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Master forgave you.”

The key in both passages is that we are to forgive others as God has forgiven us.

Why do we forgive? Because we have been forgiven!