“Bear with each other.” That simple phrase could change your household! Other translations communicate the idea as put up with one another or make allowance for each other’s faults. Why? Because relationships involve imperfect people living with other imperfect people.

Then Paul raises the stakes: “Forgive one another.” C. S. Lewis famously observed that forgiveness sounds wonderful until we actually have someone to forgive. Isn’t that the truth? Forgiveness is beautiful in theory. Then somebody actually hurts us, sometimes very badly. Now what do we do? Paul doesn’t tell us to forgive because the offense didn’t matter. He gives us a much more powerful reason: “Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”

Think about that for a moment. What if Jesus held grudges like we do? What if He kept bringing up our faults and failures? What if His forgiveness depended on whether we deserved it? We would all be in big trouble! The gospel reminds us that we live every day as recipients of His amazing and undeserved mercy. If we understand that mercy and don’t take it for granted, it will change how we treat others.

Forgiving someone doesn’t mean pretending nothing happened, eliminating appropriate boundaries, or putting ourselves at risk. It does mean surrendering our right to keep collecting on the debt we feel we are owed.

Does this sometimes feel humanly impossible? Absolutely. That’s why we need Jesus.

Final Thought: Remember the mercy Jesus has shown you. Let that mercy loosen your grip on any grudges you are holding on to.