“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” –Ephesians 4:32

Paul’s command to forgive doesn’t come out of a cold, harsh heart. He doesn’t just leave this command as a naked statement saying, “Forgive one another because it’s the right thing to do.” It actually originates in something much richer: this command to forgive one another is deeply rooted in something God has done, “as God in Christ forgave you.” See that. We can forgive because God first forgave us.

Your sin is huge. It’s not just “a little mishap.” It’s a declaration of war against God, the Creator of everything including you. When we don’t love God or love others like Jesus, we’re saying to all creation that God is unloving. We’re imaging the Almighty in a broken, distorted way—and we do that every day!

The wages of our sin is death, but the good news is that Christ has come to pay our debt, dying on our behalf. Before you were ever born, God knew you, he knew the depth of your sin, and he still came to pay the price for it. When we know the reality of our sin borne by the God-man Jesus Christ on the cross, we can’t help but to forgive others. 

Forgiven sinners forgive. Forgiveness doesn’t originate in you; it begins in God. Don’t try to muster it up yourself. Know what God has done for you today, and forgive out of that.