forgive

The Colossians challenge continues to be practical: forgive as you have been forgiven by God. Oh dear. If God forgives me the way I forgive other people, what a dry, graceless life I live. But the good news is that God forgives abundantly, gracefully, and only when I grasp that incredible fact will I be able to even reflect on how I forgive others. This little phrase assumes I fully understand myself to be forgiven (and to need forgiveness); otherwise that little word "as" is as powerfully scary here as it is in the Lor's Prayer.