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The Joy of Complete Forgiveness

The concept of mercy is at the very heart of Christianity because it’s a key attribute of God’s character. He’s merciful. He showed us mercy in Christ and forgave us our sins. Without understanding mercy and forgiveness, we can’t grasp the ongoing power of the gospel to transform lives. Yet we often don’t realize the moments when we ourselves need to show mercy to others, and we often don’t recognize times when our actions are wrong and require mercy from others. Many conflicts within the church and between Christians are rooted in our inability to show mercy and forgive. And when we don’t forgive, our spiritual growth is stunted.

Forgiveness is difficult. We all want to be forgiven for the ways we hurt people, but we find it hard to admit that we need to be forgiven. We also have trouble extending forgiveness to others. Most people want to forgive but don’t know how to. If a great wrong has been done to you, you may feel it’s impossible for you to forgive. No matter how desirable forgiveness might be, it towers over you like a mountain you can’t climb.

The twin virtues of mercy and forgiveness belong together, and it’s important to understand the relationship between them. Mercy is broader than forgiveness, but forgiveness goes further than mercy.

Suppose someone wrongs you. To be merciful means you have compassion on them. So rather than return harm, you seek to do them good. Mercy chooses not to repay evil for evil but, rather, to “overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12:21). But forgiveness goes further because it involves restoring a relationship. Mercy, then, is like a stepping-stone to forgiveness. Pursue mercy and you’ll get to forgiveness.