Too Quick to Forgive?

A few weeks ago me and a friend were sitting down and talking about things going on, just catching up when at one point in our conversation the phrase came up, "I'm too quick to forgive sometimes."
  I admit it was me that said it, and any of you that know me well know that I am probably one of the faster ones to throw out the "hey it's all good, I forgive you." I absolutely hate letting anything sit for more than a couple days (much to the amusement of my friends sometimes after I say something like "I refuse to chat them for the X amount of days" and then end up trying to fix our differences that night)

 But as I went home after hanging out and I laid in my bed the phrase kept going through my mind. "Too quick to forgive."

Too quick? What kind of phrase is this? This is a phrase that has permeated our life and our culture, I've heard it everywhere in all sorts of different circumstances. But really, is this a valid phrase that we as Christians can be or should be using?


The Bible has a quite a few things to say about forgiveness, some of them are some things that we may not necessarily want to hear. There are literally so many verses about this that I really encourage you all to go and do your own studies, I'll just list a few of the big ones here.

"For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." Matthew 6:14-15

"Then Peter came up and said to him, "Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times." Matthew 18:21-22

"Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive." Colossians 3:13

In these few verses we see that it's a command, we as Christians are called to forgive whether we really want to or not.
Let me clarify quickly a bad misunderstanding of how that works. Just because you have forgiven someone does not mean that you are reconciled with them, nor does it mean that you have to trust them either if the injury is severe enough. You simply must forgive the offense, and move on.

Something that we should keep in mind is the way in which we forgive others is the way in which we ourselves will be forgiven as is evidenced here in Luke 6:37 "Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven;"

Forgiveness is a two way street. It specifically states in that earlier verse in Matthew that if we are to receive the forgiveness of our Father then we ought to forgive. Now this is not to say that our salvation is held to an earthly act, not at all! Rather it is a way for us to show and evidence that we have been saved by the blood of Christ by forgiving so easily.
 I quote a lecture from Alistair Begg here on this topic: "One of the chief evidences of true penitence (of a repentant spirit towards God) is a forgiving Spirit."

 A final thought before I wrap this all up.

When you view the enormity of your own sin against God, does not the injuries that others have inflicted against you seem so small and insignificant in comparison?
   What do we have that is so high and mighty that when we look at others we say, "No, you don't deserve my forgiveness." What did we ourselves, born sinners and doomed to hell, ever do that we deserved God's grace when he looked down on us and said "I forgive you."

So really, is there such a thing as too quick to forgive? If anything I believe we need more Christians that were this way.

God Bless,
      Ryan