Forgiveness is alot like a snotty hug

One of the most important factors to building long lasting relationships is forgiveness. The problem with relationships is that they involve people, and as we all know, people are messed up. That little sin thing that happened in the garden has infected every person since, and it makes relationships nearly impossible. At some point someone is going to fail you. And guess what? You’re going to fail them too. So, no matter how hard we try to build perfect relationships, we will never succeed. We can however, build healthy ones. As I studied through the lesson this week, a couple thoughts about forgiveness came to mind.

I need a lot of it. It seems every time I turn around, sin is staring me down. I thank God for the work Christ did on my behalf, because there’s no way for me to be good enough. So I’m thankful for the forgiveness found in Christ. I am also in desperate need of forgiveness from everyone I am in relationship with. None of this is any clearer than in my marriage relationship. I think I have a disease or at least a condition. If a doctor could diagnose it, that would be great. My problem is that the words I think and the words I say do not always have the same meaning. I will look at my wife and say something I feel is rather benign only to see I was wrong. This condition keeps me asking for forgiveness.

Another thing God showed me this week is that His arms are always open. I know the Bible talks about that, but in my mind it seems like there should be a limit on how many times you can ask for forgiveness for the same thing. Certainly, God does not give us a license to live in sin, but there is no limit to the forgiveness available to His children. He taught me this lesson very vividly this week. My daughter is 2 and a half and is fully embracing the “terrible twos.” It is unbelievable really. She is the sweetest, cutest girl on the planet (shameless daddy plug) one minute and then she turns into another creature instantly. There’s a lot of kicking and screaming, flailing around on the floor, and sometimes a bit of foaming at the mouth. To say it is frustrating dealing with it would be an understatement. No matter how frustrated I get, when the “episode” is over, she always runs to me and says sorry, and wipes her snotty nose and tear-stained face on my shirt. And no matter how many times it has happened that day, my arms open wide and a smile spreads across my face.

I learn a lot about my faith and my relationship with my Father through my relationship with my daughter. I hope I don’t quite look like a 2 year old throwing a tantrum, but I may look more like that than I care to. Just thinking through things this week, I see life like me walking hand in hand with my daughter. Introduce sin and she is still my daughter, but she’s doing more fussing and screaming than holding my hand. Forgiveness looks a lot like me taking her hand again and continuing our walk. It amazes me how God can teach truth in such simple ways, and even through using a few tantrums!

What does forgiveness look like to you? How is God teaching you right now? Join the conversation!

P.S. I will be on vacation next week and there will be a guest blogger taking my place. His name is Michael Kelley so make sure you check out what he has to say. He is quite funny and kinda smart so it should be a good one.