An idea had been swirling around my head for a few years now.  Here is the idea.  Most of us have a cheap substitute for true forgiveness.  This substitute is called “understanding.”

I first thought of this when listening to a Christian.  They were describing some sin that another Christian had committed.  Then they said, “I just don’t understand how they could do that!”  This person was right, it was hard to understand how someone could do this despicable action.  My question is “does God call us to understand everything?”

Here is what I know about Christians.  We are called to forgive one another even if we do not or cannot understand why this bad thing happened.  True forgiveness looks at an incident and says “I will never understand how you could hurt me like that, but I know that God wants me to forgive you.  So I will.”

This is where gossip becomes so deceitful.  We think, “If I just tell people the rest of the story then they will understand.”  We spread rumors and gossip in an effort to “help people out.” The reality is that God does not want us to attempt to understand everything in the world.  He wants us to forgive the evil as he has forgiven us.

So the question for you is this:  “Are you offering people forgiveness or are you trying to understand their behavior?”  There is a world of difference.