Love Leads to Forgiveness

She has been forgiven of all her many sins. This is why she has shown me such extravagant love. But those who assume they have very little to be forgiven will love me very little. Luke 7:47 (TPT)
 
This past Wednesday we started a new series in Bible Study on the topic of Forgiveness using Luke 7:36-48 as our reference text. This is an important season to revisit (and learn anew) the lessons about what forgiveness is and is not. Moreover, it will do us all well to recommit ourselves, not only to being forgiving people, but also to remembering, first and foremost, that we have been forgiven by God.
 
One of the questions to consider that was raised during our study is this: What if forgiveness is more about love and us embracing and receiving the love of Christ (both for ourselves and others) and not so much about us and how wrong we have been done or how much we have been injured?
 
Recognizing that serious offenses and traumatic experiences come in life – which, by God's grace, we must deal with, process through, and heal from – the fact remains that our injury is NOT what should determine whether we forgive. No, the standard for forgiveness is the love of Christ, the love that God freely and lavishly extends to us daily.
 
I left us with this point to ponder as we launch into this month’s study, “Maybe our ability, or willingness, to forgive should be based upon how much love Christ has extended to us by forgiving us of our offenses.” The key takeaway from the story recounted in Luke Chapter 7 is that neither of the men had the ability to repay the debt they owed. Friends, this is also true in our lives. We could never have gotten ourselves out of our debt of sin, so Jesus paid it all! Now the question is will we allow the love of Christ to so permeate our lives that what we have received will be shared with everyone we meet? We have indeed been forgiven much! Jesus says, loving much should be our response.