September 26, 2026
Saturday, September 26
Earlier in the week, I recommended Tim Keller’s book Forgive. That book gave me the following illustration of why, no matter how badly we’re hurt, God has given us the capacity to forgive:
Imagine a robber steals five dollars from someone. If the victim is so poor, they literally don’t have any food in their house, that five dollars is huge. Losing it means they won’t eat anything that day. But if the victim is worth billions, they won’t miss the five dollars at all. In both cases, a sin has been committed. In both cases, the person who has been robbed needs to forgive. But the poor man is going to find it much harder to forgive than the rich man. In very real terms, the sin hurt him more.
The question is, when it comes to our spiritual and emotional resources, which man are we more like? Keller’s point is that if you’re in Christ, no matter how badly you’ve been hurt, you should have the spiritual and emotional resources to say, “I can forgive you. You didn’t take away my true riches. Nothing can ultimately take away what is most important to me.”
Here's why that’s true: In 2 Corinthians 8:9, we read, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.” What does that mean? Jesus went from King of the Universe to the son of poor, unmarried parents, who grew up in a forgotten town in an occupied nation, who worked a blue-collar job, then became a homeless wandering preacher who was rejected by His own nation. So in that sense, He gave up His riches and became poor for us. But that’s not all. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says at the cross, He became our sin so we could become righteous. Jesus took on our guilt, shame, and weakness, so that we could be justified in the sight of God. We went from street kids to sons and daughters of the King, but only because He left His home and died in our place.
In other words, there are two reasons why we have no excuse not to forgive. One, because whatever someone does to us, it isn’t as bad as what WE cost our Savior. If it weren’t for our sin, after all, He wouldn’t have had to die. And two, whatever anyone does to us, it doesn’t take away our true treasure. We’re billionaires who lost five bucks. He wants you to forgive so that you can enjoy that status. He wants you to forgive because that’s the sign you’re truly His.
It’s not easy to obey His command to forgive. But it’s the path to joy. As the great old hymn reminds us, Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus.
Senior Pastor
First Baptist Conroe
More from Pastor Jeff at his website: jeffbergerwriting.com
