Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

Colossians 3:12-14

This weekend Patrina and I will join some friends to see the movie, Bonhoeffer – Past Spy Assassin, based on the life of the German pastor who died in a concentration camp near the end of World War II.

I’ve read a biography on Bonhoeffer years ago and a good friend recommended his challenging book, The Cost of Discipleship. His book contains many quotes I’ve used from time to time including the one below –

Abandoning the old is a start, but we need to fill the void of those old attachments. In the third chapter of Colossians, Paul tells each of us to put away what is earthly and put on the new self. The committed follower Paul describes is holy, compassionate, kind, humble, patient and forgiving and thankful.

As I read the passage above, it seems that forgiveness is central to the theme. So we must remember that God didn’t make us with the capacity to carry all the negative residue from what we are unwilling to forgive.

Forgiveness is what God gives to free us and others from the weight of relational failure. If we want the kind of life that God promises us, forgiveness is God’s solution.

Forgiveness is a decision to release a person from the obligation that resulted when he or she injured you.

And according to the example of Christ, forgiveness is without limits.