“But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too” (Mark 11:25 NLT)
Forgiveness is an art. We coach our kids to forgive others by modeling confession and forgiveness ourselves and by using their sibling conflicts as examples, but it takes a long time and a lot of patience. Few things are as frustrating as one child giving an apathetic, “I’m sorry” paired with an eye roll.
But forgiveness is so important because it is one of the main themes of the gospel and it’s such a powerful way to share God’s love and grace with the people around us. Just as Christ forgave us of our sins, we must forgive others! James 2:17 goes so far as to tell us that faith without deeds is dead—meaning faith that does not produce good fruit is not faith at all. So if we claim to follow Jesus, we must follow his example of forgiving others! So it is really important that our kids learn to forgive others well.
God made forgiveness an important command and the cool thing is, he did not do it haphazardly. Forgiving others releases us from grudges and resentment, but forgiveness is also good for your mental and physical health! I love the way God cares for us so intentionally! Luckily, we don’t have to forgive on our own. We can ask God for strength to help us forgive others, the way that he has forgiven us.
This week, let’s pray that our kids will generously forgive others and reconcile broken relationships.
Lord, I pray that ____________sees forgiveness and reconciliation at home and learns to do it well. May they experience a holy unrest when they sin, may they freely confess, and seek to reconcile. When others offend them, may they be quick to forgive and offer mercy. I pray they are a model of forgiveness within their friend groups so that they can show Christ’s example of forgiveness and grace to those around them. Amen.
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