… 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

Remember when our parents broke up our fights? What did we usually say? “He/She started it!” Even at early ages we were more concerned with who was right than the fact that we were doing something wrong with our self-righteous “defense.”

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 Yeshua 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. Enough that we complain about it to that person, to others, or 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.

That’s no easy task, is it? I suppose it could be worse. We could have to endure what Yeshua did. Remember, our Father started it first, by loving us …