When Forgiveness Becomes Worship
One definition of forgiveness is an act of God, releasing sinners from judgment and freeing them from the divine penalty of their sin. Since God is holy, ultimately, only God has the authority to forgive sins.
Everett L. Worthington Jr., in A Just Forgiveness: Responsible Healing Without Excusing Injustice, writes…
“God alone can forgive sins against God because only God possesses the authority and perfect knowledge to absolve moral debt to divine order. Humans, by contrast, are called to forgive unconditionally because we are finite and cannot fully know others’ hearts or intentions, we are morally equal to one another, and God alone is the ultimate judge.”
I have spent a lot of time thinking about forgiveness.
When we talk about forgiveness as Christians, we often turn to Matthew 6:14–15 and Ephesians 4:32. We are reminded that we are to forgive because we have been forgiven. “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”
Those Scriptures have a way of humbling us.
They remind us that we are not standing above anyone else, handing out forgiveness from a place of superiority. We are standing at the foot of the cross, fully aware that we, too, are desperately in need of grace.
The cross removes the pedestal.
It reminds me that I am not the righteous one deciding who deserves forgiveness. I am a sinner who has been forgiven by a holy God.
And when I truly understand the magnitude of what Christ has forgiven in me, it becomes much harder to withhold forgiveness from someone else.
In the 42 years I have lived on this earth, I have had plenty of opportunities to forgive.
I have been hurt. Let down. Mistreated. Betrayed. And even abused by people I loved and trusted—family, friends, pastors, and leaders.
I am not new to what I call the “forgiveness journey.”
But lately, I believe the Lord has been showing me something deeper.
My focus is changing.
For so long, I thought about forgiveness primarily in terms of the person who hurt me. Do they deserve it? Have they apologized? Have they changed? Do they understand what they did? What will forgiving them do for me? Will it bring me peace?
But what if forgiveness isn’t ultimately about them?
What if it is about Him?
What if forgiveness becomes an act of worship?
This thought began taking root in my heart on Sunday when Pastor Dr. Andrew Heard spoke about the words, “Hallowed be Thy name” in the Lord’s Prayer.
To hallow God’s name is to acknowledge His holiness. But it is also a prayer of surrender—a request that His holiness would be revealed in us and through us.
And I began to pray:
“Lord, is there anything in me that misrepresents You?”
Not just in the things I say.
Not just in the things I do.
But in the hidden places of my heart.
“If there is unforgiveness in me, Lord, pluck it out.”
That prayer changed the way I began to look at forgiveness.
I don’t have to pretend the hurt didn’t happen.
I don’t have to minimize the damage.
I don’t have to call something right that was wrong.
I don’t have to deny what was done to me in order to forgive.
But I can take the pain, the disappointment, the betrayal, the anger, and the questions and place them into the hands of the One who judges perfectly.
I can release them to Jesus.
I can stop carrying what He never asked me to carry.
I can stop trying to be the judge.
I can stop rehearsing the offense.
I can stop demanding that someone else make me whole.
Because Jesus is enough.
And perhaps this is where true freedom begins—not when the person who hurt us changes, apologizes, or understands, but when we finally place the entire situation into the hands of God and say,
“Lord, they are Yours. Their heart is Yours. My heart is Yours. The outcome is Yours.”
I am learning that forgiveness doesn’t mean the wound wasn’t real.
It means the wound no longer gets to rule me.
Bitterness says, “I will hold on to what they did.”
Forgiveness says, “I will place it in the hands of Jesus.”
“ Bitterness keeps me looking backward.
Forgiveness turns my eyes toward Christ.”
