A Two-Way Street (Friday Devotional)

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

- Matthew 6:14-15

When I’m driving, I try my best to be considerate—I always use my turn signal, I don’t tailgate cars in front of me, and I stay out of the right lane unless I’ll be turning soon. But I’m human, which means that every once in a while I mess up. Maybe I cut a driver off, maybe I go too slow in the passing lane, maybe I cut across three lanes of traffic when I realize my upcoming left turn is actually a right turn. Either way, when I make a mistake, I count on the drivers around me to let it go and accept my sheepish wave of apology.

So you’d think I’d be more understanding when I’m on the receiving end of other drivers’ mistakes. You might assume I’d give the benefit of the doubt to the driver going 35 mph in a 45 mph zone or the motorcycle who zips past me at twice that speed. You’d think that—but my blood pressure in such moments tells a different story.

Forgiveness is like that—we want to receive it, but we’re hesitant to give it. When we stumble, we are quick with rationalizations and excuses; we are more than ready to explain why our mistakes should be overlooked. But when someone else has wronged us, we become far more interested in justice than grace—rules are rules, and we want to see punishment doled out.

Jesus made clear that grace is a two-way street, something we receive from God and are then called to extend to others. Indeed, Jesus says that the heart which is too hardened to forgive others is a heart too hardened for the Father’s love; those who claim to know grace must not only receive it, but offer it to their neighbors.

The humbling truth is that we are all sinners in need of grace, and that ought to change how we regard one another—having been forgiven, believers ought to be the first to forgive. Will you be an example of such grace today?