I had a really great conversation with my friend Kevin this week, about his idea that Christianity is founded on forgiveness. So we should all forgive each other, no matter what.

Forgiveness is clearly the founding principle of Christianity. It is the big thing which makes us different from every other religion. In all the other religions you have to earn your way to please your god, or to achieve the equivalent of eternal peace. And if you do things wrong, you have to make up for it somehow, or miss out on the prize.

For Christians God just says, “I forgive you. Come in.”

In Bible times a denarius was a day’s pay.
In Matthew 18 we read the story of a slave who owed his master ten thousand talents, (millions of denarii). And he begged for mercy. And the compassionate owner forgave his debt. Wiped it away.
The slave went out from there, and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him around the neck and demanded payment. The other slave asked for more time, but he wouldn’t allow it. He had him thrown in prison until it was repaid.
When the owner found out about this he was furious with him, and rebuked him for not having mercy after he had been shown much more mercy himself. And he was thrown into prison until his debt was paid.

I don’t know how big your debt to God was when you became a Christian. I know my own was massive. But I know yours was more than you could ever repay yourself.

Maybe you have someone who has done something against you. Maybe hurt or betrayed you in some way. Maybe borrowed something and not repaid it.
Compare that one thing they have done against you, with all the things you ever did against God.
Their debt to you is minor compared with the debt you had with God. Which he totally forgave.
Is it time for you to do the same for the person who owes you?

You’re not saying it’s OK. You’re not saying it doesn’t matter. In fact, by saying you forgive them, you are saying it was a wrong thing to do, but you forgive them anyway.

In 1 Corinthians 6, Paulus is telling them off because they’re not only not forgiving each other, they’re taking them to court, to have the court prove that they’re right, and have the other person punished. And not even a court of other Christians, a court of non-believers!
Paulus says, “Wouldn’t you rather be wronged? Wouldn’t you rather be defrauded?”
Yes, they did the wrong thing. But show a small part of the forgiveness God showed you, and overlook it.
Tell them that you forgive them.
It will change your life.

And specifically, if you lent them something and they’re not paying it back, or they gave it back but they damaged it, or they mis-used it. Let it go. Forgive them. It’s not worth losing a friend over money, or a lawnmower, or even a car.
In Luke 6, Yeshua taught that if you only lend when you’re sure they will repay, how are you different from non-Christians? Anybody will do that.
Lend, but lend on the assumption that it will never be repaid, and you’re OK with that. (If you’re not OK with that, then don’t lend it).
If they do repay you, great. But if not… it’s what you expected. God knows.
God understands. He does it all the time.
He is used to people taking advantage of his generosity and love.
But he loves them still. Always.

So, if you lent someone something and they haven’t paid it back. Be like God.
Forgive them.
Love them anyway.

Imagine if Christians had a reputation for forgiving people!
We should, don’t you think?