April 6, 2009 2 Corinthians 2:5-11

Forgive the Sinner
Someone there among you has caused sadness, not to me, but to all of you. I mean he caused sadness to all in some way. (I do not want to make it sound worse than it really is.) The punishment that most of you gave him is enough for him. But now you should forgive him and comfort him to keep him from having too much sadness and giving up completely. So I beg you to show that you love him. I wrote you to test you and to see if you obey in everything. If you forgive someone, I also forgive him. And what I have forgiven--if I had anything to forgive--I forgave it for you, as if Christ were with me. I did this so that Satan would not win anything from us, because we know very well what Satan's plans are. ~2 Corinthians 2:5-22~

Coming from the previous passage about God focused relationships, another important thing is forgiving. This passage is about forgiveness. I honestly think I am pretty good with forgiving because I just forget about it. I don't hold grudges...if I have a problem, I deal with it right then and there. Cornerstone doesn't really seem to have a problem either. Although the past Sunday, there were a little "shouting across the gym" action among two people, but I'm sure they'll make it up! Unlike us, the Corinthians must have had some problems with forgiving.

In this passage, Paul is teaching the Corinthians about forgiveness. It's not like they don't know what it is, it's just that they didn't practice it very well. Paul brings up an example of how he forgives them, just like all of us have been forgiven and are continued to be forgiven by our Merciful God.

It's ironic that this passage comes up and it's almost Easter Sunday. What is the whole point of Easter? Jesus, the One and Only Son of God, was sent down to Earth to live a short, but meaningful life on Earth as a human being, among other sinners. Then He was sentenced to carry His cross with all the sins of every single being, and with that He was crucified, washing away all our sins. This happened on Good Friday, then on Easter Jesus rose from the dead!!! Amazing!!! Beautiful!!! Awesome!!! That's the meaning of forgiveness. Not just accepting an apology, but really forgiving. We need to follow the example. Besides, Paul says that if we don't forgive, we're letting Satan win.