… bearing with one another and forgiving each other, if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord pardoned you, so also you must pardon others. Colossians 3:13, TLV
“But They Started It!” Remember when our parents or teachers broke up our fights? What our default response? “He/She started it!” Even at early ages we were more concerned with who was right than how wrong we were with our self-righteous response and defense. Or, who could get the blame.
In Colossians 3, Paul reminds us that we aren’t the same people as we were before we accepted Messiah’s atonement. How we treated folks before, should change into how Jesus treated folks.
Grievance
The use of grievance is notable in today’s verse. Grievance doesn’t necessarily mean someone sinned against us. It means someone wronged us or treated us unfairly. Offended us. Enough that we complain about it — usually to others, perhaps to God. Hopefully, we begin with the person who did the grievance, right?
Paul is teaching the Colossians — and us — that we pardon the offender, as the Father pardoned us through Yeshua’s suffering, death, and resurrection — His atonement. It’s a not-so-subtle reminder that we forgive an injustice, forgive the sin against us, and pardon the grievance, even if the other party doesn’t acknowledge it.
When Jesus taught us to pray, He added a caveat to our request for forgiveness:
And forgive us our debts [sins] as we also have forgiven our debtors [those who sin against us]. (Matthew 6:12, TLV)
That’s no easy task, is it? I suppose it could be worse. We could have to endure what Yeshua did. You know, paying the penalty for our sin. Remember, our Father started it first, by loving us …
