Giving and forgiving

I have been trying to speed read through a book I would much rather read slowly and enjoy… but there we go! It’s called Free of Charge, by Miroslav Volf, and is n Giving and forgiving. It’s got much in it, and while I need to return this copy to the library tomorrow, I am tempted to buy it anyway..!

So, for your reading pleasure, here’s a few tidbits for you to enjoy!

Forgiveness is a special kind of gift. When we give, we seek the good of another, not our own good, or at least, we don’t primarily seek our own good. The same is true of forgiveness. We forgive for another’s sake, though we too may benefit from the result. But there is also an important difference between giving and forgiving. We give when we delight in others or others are in need; by giving, we enhance their joy or make up for their lack. We forgive when others have wronged us; by forgiving, we release them from the burden of their wrongdoing, offence, transgression, debt. And that’s what makes it more difficult to forgive than to give.

What is God’s relationship to forgiveness? It’s similar to God’s relationship go giving in general. Briefly, God is the God who forgives. We forgive because god forgives. We forgive as God forgives. We forgive by echoing God’s forgiveness. So to understand our own forgiving, we need to start with God’s….