Into The Generous Life (Forgiveness I)

It is more blessed to give than to receive.[1]
-Jesus of Nazareth

Jesus wants to free us to live fully from our adoption and as ambassadors of the Reign of God. The Holy Spirit is constantly working to draw us into these two great realities, of grace and of partnering with God to see all things made new. What an amazing truth: God is not “out there,” and we’re not trying to get close to Him so He’ll reward us. He is already with us and “within us,” working, drawing us to Him, leading us into life.[2] As we receive this reality, we become free to give without measure. 

Life as an adopted child of God is about making present the Reign of God for others, as an ambassador of God’s Kingdom.[3] As a cup filled to overflow spills its water, a life grounded in grace naturally overflows with compassion, empathy, and justice (the pursuit of wholeness for others) for others. If we aren’t clear on Jesus’ invitation to make present the Reign of God—with him and for others—we don’t yet grasp our adoption. But experiencing God’s heart naturally births generosity within us. This Generous Life leads us into life’s greatest joy: giving. Discipleship is learning to live and love like Jesus, and that means learning to give.

In walking this path of joy (for is there any joy greater than giving?), Jesus asks us to do hard things. In the words of the Dread Pirate Roberts, “anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something.”[4] Jesus himself says that following him is not easy.[5] However, it’s in practicing hard things that our old, false self—the part of us which is only focused only on ourselves—is stripped away so that resurrected life in Jesus can be fully birthed within us.[6] Jesus’ love for us demands the development of character that is not native to our souls.[7] Discipleship is about transformation and transformation means character development, that we would become vessels who carry the Reign of God within us. The wooden cup that overflows can only carrywater because it has first been hollowed out.[8] In other words: the development of character is painful. Central to character development and The Generous Life is forgiveness—a spiritual practice that Jesus puts at the center of his teaching on what it means to live in the Reign of God. It may not come easily, but forgiveness is a practice that will remake us. And we cannot live in our adoption or as ambassadors of God’s Kingdom without it.

Things Done To Us and Things Done By Us

I have been betrayed by close friends who’ve lied to me or attacked me. I’ve had to forgive, and it was incredibly painful. 

I’m sure you’ve experienced something similar.

I have also needed great forgiveness. From women whom I used and betrayed. From a woman to whom I promised love and marriage, only to break my word. I felt guilt and shame over what I did, yet what she experienced was far more painful.

This is our life—the things done to us, and the things we’ve done. Again, I think the histories of the Exodus and the Exile represent, on a spiritual level, a great reality of human life: there are things done to us that bring us into captivity or slavery, and there are things we do (often in response to those things, though sometimes not) that also bring us into captivity and exile.[9] And Jesus has to deal with both in order to free us to live in and from our adoption as children of God. 

In fact, Jesus makes it explicitly clear that if you are to live in the Reign of God, where there is only freedom, it will mean practicing a radical forgiveness. It will mean forgiving even when it feels impossible. It will mean humbling ourselves and seeking forgiveness, even when that feels like death.[10]

Sounds like fun, right? But then again, Jesus did say, “If you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.”[11] He makes it clear that forgiveness is at the heart of being saved and becoming an agent of peace in a violent world. 

For all of these readings in one place, order my book 'Learning to Live and Love Like Jesus.'

[1] Acts 20:35.

[2] Cf. Philippians 2:13.

[3] See Paul’s theology in Romans 8, where life in and by the Spirit flows into the redemption of all creation. 

[4] The Princess Bride. Film, directed by Rob Reiner. 20th Century Fox. 1987. 

[5] Cf. Luke 9:32.

[6] See Romans 8:10-20, in which Paul describes the Spirit of God birthing us into awareness of what it means to be a child of God. Once again, the reality already in place must become our reality. Cf. Ephesians 1:3, Colossians 2:20, 3:1, etc.

[7] I can’t cite an exact source, but I’m pretty sure this beautiful phrasing came from my friend Bill Hull. For more on his take on transformation, see especially his book Conversion and Discipleship  (Zondervan. Grand Rapids, MI. 2016.) See Chapters 4 and 5, “The Holy Spirit and How People Change, Part I and Part II.”

[8] “Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter’s oven?” (Gibran, Khalil. The Prophet. Alfred A. Knopf. New York, NY. 1923. Page 29.)

[9] See “What is the Story of Scripture?” in ‘Chapter 11, The Grounded Life: Scripture.’

[10] Matthew 5:23-24.

[11] Matthew 16:25.