Forgiveness is not easy. What is easy is harboring anger and unforgiveness. Letting go of anger and offering forgiveness to those who have hurt us and broken our hearts takes hard work and effort. What is the motivator of forgiveness? Scripture makes it clear that our love for others and God’s love for all people motivates us to forgive. When love becomes our motivator, forgiveness comes more easily and naturally. When it comes to forgiving those who have hurt us and offended us, we must let love motivate us to extend the same forgiveness that God has shown us.
Peter, the author of 1 Peter, explained that forgiveness is born out of the love we have for the people around us in 1 Peter 4. In this passage of Scripture, he urged people to live in light of eternity. He wrote, "The end of the world is coming soon. Therefore, be earnest and disciplined in your prayers" (verse 7). Because this world is fading away day by day, we must focus on heaven and things of eternity. He continued, "Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins" (verse 8). Above all, Paul encouraged readers to love the people around them. Why? We are to love others around us because "love covers a multitude of sins." Love motivates us to forgive the people who have offended us. It also motivates us to live in a way that we treat people with kindness so that we do not offend or hurt them. When love is our motivator, all of our relationships are impacted for the better.
What does it look like to love in this manner? 1 John chapter 4 gives us a picture of how to love in a way that points others to Christ. He wrote, "God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect" (verse 16b-17a). God's love allows us to grow in love so that our love reflects Him and His love. Several verses later, John continued, "We love each other because he loved us first" (verse 19). God demonstrated love first while we were still sinners. Because He loved, we are called to love, too.
When it comes to your relationships, especially the ones where there is conflict, is love at the center? I urge you, friend, to remember how loved by God each person is, even those who hurt you and offend you. Let His love motivate you to love the people around you, even those you would consider enemies. His love changes everything. It changed your life, and it can change any relationship.
Memorize 1 Peter 4:8. Bring it to mind often, especially when someone has hurt or offended you. Let this verse be a reminder to you of the power of love to restore relationships. Let your love be a motivator to forgive those around you. Ask God for help as you seek to forgive out of love for the people around you.
1 Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world. 2 This is how we know if they have the Spirit of God: If a person claiming to be a prophet acknowledges that Jesus Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God. 3 But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here.
4 But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world. 5 Those people belong to this world, so they speak from the world’s viewpoint, and the world listens to them. 6 But we belong to God, and those who know God listen to us. If they do not belong to God, they do not listen to us. That is how we know if someone has the Spirit of truth or the spirit of deception.
7 Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. 8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
11 Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. 12 No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.
13 And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. 14 Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. 16 We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.
God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. 17 And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.
18 Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. 19 We love each other because he loved us first.
20 If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? 21 And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers.
