Colossians 3:13

NASB	NLT	VOICE
13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so must you do also.	13 Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.	13 Put up with one another. Forgive. Pardon any offense against one another, as the Lord has pardoned you, because you should act in kind.

Forgiving others begins by recognizing and acknowledging how much God has truly forgiven us. There are many things that we do daily that go against his teachings, commands, and principles, but we are ultimately forgiven through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. We are working towards perfection and must also work towards daily forgiveness because it’s how we can truly reflect as Christians to ensure we are truly and accurately representing who God is to the people we interact. Allow God to manage the justice in regard to the wrongs you’ve suffered. It’s easy to allow our hearts to seek revenge and anger when someone hurts us. But when we release the hurt to God, we find a peace that we could never find. The idea of letting God deal with those that hurt you and allowing you to keep focus on what he has planned for you. We can find renewal and a refocus in God’s love and joy.

Ephesians 4:32

NASB	NLT	VOICE
32 Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.	32 Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.	32 Instead, be kind and compassionate. Graciously forgive one another just as God has forgiven you through the Anointed, our Liberating King.

Jesus taught this law of forgiveness in the Gospels. It was so important to Jesus as well that he includes in what we know as the “Lord’s Prayer.” God forgives us, not because we forgive others, but because of his great mercy. It’s a part of who God is and not a response of our own actions. Those who are unwilling to forgive has not fully received Christ. Christ was willing to forgive those who crucified. Through the Holy Spirit, we are called to live a life that truly represents Christ. When we do not do that, we do not fully envelope our lives in Christ. As we learn and understand what God’s mercy is about, we will see the importance of acting like him through our words and actions. As I mentioned, we find this freedom released when we forgive and allow God to manage the party that asks for forgiveness or that receives our forgiveness. This allows us to breathe and focus on who God created us to me. Because Jesus forgave us for the sins we committed, our forgiving attitude (our mercy) toward others should stand out in striking contrast to the unforgiving spirit shown by most of the world. Allow your forgiveness to stand out. To receive strange looks from around you. To be of love first, and person pride later.

Ephesians 5:2

NASB	NLT	VOICE
2 and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.	2 Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.	2 and live in love as the Anointed One loved you – so much that He gave himself as a fragrant sacrifice, pleasing God.

The idea of living a life of love describes an active and continuous lifestyle. God’s love is shown through how we act and talk. The love of God is selfless, sacrificial and unconditional love. There’s no reason behind what we love, there’s no requirements to receive the love, and there’s nothing that wouldn’t be given unless it’s outside of rational giving. This is the same kind of love that Jesus shares with us and models for us, so that we can share it with each other.

Something that we don’t talk about is the idea of something being a “pleasing aroma” to God. If we think about something the smells good, we have a pleasant expression; a happy or calming attitude; a bit of whimsy in our walk and words. If we smell something bad, we scrunch our face; we get grumpy; we hunt down what’s going to remove the situation. This is how we can imagine God reacts to our actions. If we commit an act of Godly love, then we see God reaction with the pleasant expression. If we don’t, then God has a stinky expression. He’s not mad at us for it, but there might be consequences. We just have to learn from it and move forward.

Next slice of Manna: Manna for the Mind #224