More Like God
The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin."
- Exodus 34:6-7
An unforgiving Christian is a contradiction in terms, an oxymoron. To say you are a follower of Jesus Christ and yet harbor unforgiveness in your heart is simply wrong.
Jesus touched on the issue of forgiveness time after time. It was a theme of so many of His parables, it was part of His prayers, and He hammered on this issue again and again in the private talks He had with His disciples.
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You are never more like God than when you forgive. Alexander Pope wrote, "To err is human, to forgive is divine." We reflect the nature of God in such a dramatic way when we are willing to forgive. If you really want to be like the Lord, then you need to be a forgiving person because He is a forgiving God.
Exodus 34 gives us this description of God, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin" (verses 6-7). Therefore, if we want to be like Him, we should do the same.
Jesus taught us to pray, "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors" (Matthew 6:12), but He also taught us to pray, "Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (verse 10). What is going on in heaven? The worship of God, the exaltation of Christ, and the granting of forgiveness. Therefore, we should be worshiping God. We should be exalting Jesus Christ. And we should be forgiving one another.
