5 If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you to some extent—not to put it too severely. 6 The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient. 7 Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him. 9 Another reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. 10 Anyone you forgive, I also forgive. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, 11 in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes. (2 Corinthians 2: 5-11, NIV)
One of the interesting petitions in the Lord’s Prayer is when we ask God to forgive us as we forgive others. (Forgive us our trespasses or sins as we forgive those who have trespassed or sinned against us.) We are asking God to forgive us and act towards us like we forgive and act towards others. I think that is slightly different than our mother teaching us to say “I’m sorry” to our sibling after a scuffle. Saying “sorry” is kinda like saying, please don’t be angry. Often there is a corner in our heart that holds on to a bit of a grudge and we do not forget the offense. There may be peace for awhile but we are not surprised if the ugly incident raises its head again. A word of advice for young marrieds is to not throw back a statement like you’re just like your…. Those are fighting words.
In these verses Paul is advising the Corinthians to forgive and comfort the person they have disciplined. Offenses impact the whole community and impact relationships. It is possible to be overwhelmed by the guilt and grief of our sins and that can easily turn to bitterness. It is important to let us know that we have sinned against someone and to sort that out but it is also important to come back together and heal the relationship. Paul continues to say that that forgiveness also impacts our relationship with God. Ultimately the Evil One uses our disagreements to undermine faith.
So let’s sit for a moment and ask the Holy Spirit if there is someone we need to heal relationships with. May the Holy Spirit shine the flashlight of truth in our hearts so we can be honest with ourselves about our shortcomings and see our need for forgiveness. Blessings.
On the Way to Wonder 