Forgive As We Are Forgiven

June 4

“For there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin. Also do not take to heart everything people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you, for many times your own heart has known that even you have cursed others,” Ecclesiastes 7:20-22.

No matter how resolute may be our good intention of doing the right thing all the time, our effort falls far short of our resolve. We are reminded of our short-fall in this verse which chastises us for holding others to a standard we cannot maintain ourselves.

Indeed, it seems to be the nature of man to condemn most harshly the sins of others that most closely parallel his own foibles. Again, Solomon reminds us in this brief passage that our own guilt should hold our condemnation of others in check.

Jesus Himself came down on the side of Solomon’s wisdom regarding the woman who was taken in adultery. In John 8:7 we are told of the unfortunate woman who was dragged by her accusers before Jesus. Although they were eager to stone her for her sin, they were even more desirous of catching Jesus between a rock and a hard place.

They were sure they had the perfect scenario for entrapping Him in His own words, for in their minds, nothing He said in the matter could be ‘right.’ If He said to stone the woman, they would accuse Him of being a ruthless judge. If He said to set her free, He would be accused of disregarding the law.

He didn’t do either. Instead, He combined compassion with the immutable law of God in the way that only God Himself had the wisdom to do. Jesus said to the bloodthirsty mob, “Let the one among you who is free of sin himself cast the first stone," John 8:7-9.

As He spoke, He wrote in the sand. We aren’t told what He wrote but some have speculated that He was writing other sins: blasphemy, theft, lying, hatred, judgmentalism…in seeing their own worst vice scribbled on the ground, each of her accusers recognized his sinfulness before a Holy God and had no recourse but to back away from the accused woman.

Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are your accusers?” John 8:10. When she responded that there was no one remaining to condemn her, He said to her, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more,” John 8:11.

Does all this mean that we are to ignore sin, to accept sin, to engage in sin? No, it does not. It means what it has always meant: we must stand against sin, but we must love those who sin. We must recognize that it is not, nor will it ever be our place to judge our fellow man. I Corinthians 6:3 tells us that we shall judge angels, but the Word also tells us that only God can see and judge the hearts of men (see I Samuel 16:7).

One day we shall judge angels, as I Corinthians 6:3 tells us, but until that day, we are to leave that prerogative with the One who alone can see the hearts of men (see I Corinthians 4:5). Until that day, we must “forgive as Christ has forgiven us,” Colossians 3:13.