forgiveness != pardon

Now Playing:
I See Love (feat. MercyMe, Steven Curtis Chapman)
Third Day
Third Day Chronology (Volume 2)

"Acquitting the guilty and condemning the innocent - the Lord detests them both."
- Proverbs 17:15

Thinking about it, I've often seen forgiveness as an avenue for me to release someone of their punishment and consequences. But that's not really what forgiveness means. Forgiveness simply means that I want to be on the side of the person who committed the wrong against me, to step across to the other side of the line and bridge the gap that grew out of the wrong.

Forgiveness is not pardon. To think so would be to undermine Christ. If God simply pardoned us, then the sacrifice would not have been needed. But as it is, justice and punishment must still be served - and it was, upon the cross.

So let me take that as a lesson, not to pardon people, but to lay the judgment in God's hands. Simply to forgive.