Learning To Cut Others Slack and Let Go of Any Hurts

In review of Colossians 3:13 it says, “Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.”

Bottom Line:

Be tolerant with one another, forgive anyone who offends you, remember the Lord has forgiven you, so you must forgive others.

What this means to me:

I am to be tolerant and make allowances for others, forgiving anyone who may offend me. I do this because of my remembrance of what Christ has done in forgiving me.

I believe many of us have had someone in our lives that has done some crazy and hurtful things to us or someone around us. The tendency is to forgive them as soon as they apologize directly. The problem with this approach is that we end up holding on to the hurt. Also, we may never see that person ask for forgiveness. This only leaves us up to stewing over something that someone else may have long forgotten. Allowing it to eat you up.

What I’m learning is that I should never hold on to a hurt, because the resentment will tear me up. Resentment is much like drinking poison and hoping it’s going to kill someone else. It doesn’t work. I need to decide that, before anything else happens, I am going to forgive that person.

Jesus said this even in the most extreme of circumstances, as he’s hanging on the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34a NIV).

The key is to remember the great gift of God’s forgiveness.

Today’s verse, Colossians 3:13 reminds me to: “Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others” (NLT). This is not a bad verse to memorize and carry with me, I’m likely going to have lots of chances to use it.

The phrase “make allowance” is the Greek word that means “to bear with, to endure, to be tolerant.” Basically it means to cut people some slack. Jesus promises, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” (Matthew 5:7 NIV). I know I want God’s blessing in my life, and one of the ways to receive it is by being merciful.