Should we forgive the man who started one of the biggest fires in Colorado history?

Among the top ten things a lot of folks think are in the Bible but are not, such as “God won’t give us more than we can handle” and “God helps those who help themselves,” is this nugget: Forgive and Forget. The Bible does say “He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west” Psalm 103:12 (NLT), but that’s God, not us.

We have plenty of instruction from scripture about anger, forgiveness, and vengeance. Our anger should be brief, vengeance left to God, and forgiveness reflective of how God has offered to forgive us.

If we wish to reflect God’s forgiveness in how we express forgiveness there are some things we should remember about His way. First, all transgressions are sins against God, regardless of who else is hurt or offended along the way. The reason that sin is sin is that, by definition, it separates us from a completely holy and righteous God.

Secondly, God withholds final judgement for the ultimate offense of rejecting Him, so every moment that we live is lived by his grace and forbearance. For those who accept the offer of salvation through Jesus, God’s forgiveness provides eternal life with Him. For those who reject God’s offer, there is eternal separation from him – the ultimate consequence of choosing to ignore God’s way.

Thirdly, God didn’t ignore our sin in order to forgive us, but took the punishment upon himself. This is the work of Jesus accomplished on the cross and from the tomb. Our sin didn’t disappear under grace, it was paid for out of God’s love for us, as a debt might be paid in full on our behalf by a benefactor.

This means that we did nothing to earn forgiveness. We were not forgiven because God understands what we were going through, or that what we did wrong was less bad than other things, or that – bless our hearts – we just couldn’t help it. Our forgiveness, if we accept it, is based entirely on God’s character and His grace, not anything we have done. Even our repentance is designed more for our own good, for we offend God in ways we are not even aware of and we need his grace even in the absence of our knowledge that we have sinned.

So then, how can we forgive in a way reflective of how we have been forgiven?

First, you must have been offended. In the case of Jesper Jorgenson, the Spring Fire igniter, I can’t offer a global offer of forgiveness because I haven’t lost a house or cattle to his negligence. I have had to breathe days of smokey air, pack up to be ready for evacuation, and suffer along with other county residents as the economy crashes, so for those things, I might offer forgiveness. But for the other damage, I have no standing to forgive.

Secondly, forgiveness is a process. Of course, if you’re a mature believer, you might be conditioned to immediately forgive, as Stephen did as he was being stoned as recorded in Acts chapter 7. Most of us, in order to truly forgive, need some time to process our feelings of anger, injustice, victimization, lament, resentment, and disgust. To speak the words of forgiveness and still harbor ill feelings will result in festering sentiments.

Thirdly, Christian forgiveness is based entirely on grace. I hear many making allowances for Jorgenson – it was a mistake, we’ve all done stupid things, etc. Forgiveness, as a reflection of God’s forgiveness of us, isn’t about finding reasons and excuses, it’s about letting go of any rationale and allowing grace to rule.

Fourthly, while we are encouraged not to keep a list of wrongs, there’s no biblical call to allow ourselves to place ourselves in a position to be harmed again. To offer the other cheek isn’t the moral equivalent of walking back into an abusive relationship, a dangerous situation, or an unchanged person – even if they’ve claimed to have repented and changed. It’s perfectly ok to protect yourself.

Lastly, a person will always face consequences for their own sin. Often, as a police officer, I interviewed witnesses and victims who said “oh I don’t want to get so-and-so in trouble”. I had to remind them that the person making the choices to behave in criminal ways get themselves in trouble. Forgiving doesn’t mean bailing someone out or helping them escape consequences. God doesn’t guarantee that. He says your sin will find you out.

I was often assaulted as a police officer. One case involved a traffic stop where a 19 year old martial arts student knocked me unconscious and left me to lay bleeding on the pavement in the darkness. I saw him a few years later and he apologized. I had already said in my victim impact statement for his prosecution that I could personally forgive him for what he did to me. I had no grounds for forgiving what he did in causing my wife and children distress, or the dispatchers who heard the officer down call, or the citizens on whose behalf I wore the badge. So I had no interest in asking that he have a lighter sentence or not fully face the consequences of his actions.

If we are going to forgive, we must do it deeply and in awareness of the grace that has been extended to us, not lightly considering our own interests and those of others affected by sin.