Should I forgive someone if it’s not their fault?

Hmmm…interesting question! So, let’s look at it like this: You invite your friend over to play the Wii. During an intense game of Backyard Baseball, your friend is the batter and you’re the pitcher. You decide you’re gonna throw him your nastiest fastball. You wind up and make a throwing motion as hard as you can. At the same time, he makes a swinging motion.

But, because you’ve thrown this crazy pitch, you lose your balance and step right into his controller as he’s coming around to hit your pitch. He ends up hitting you right in your head. It’s clearly your fault because you fell into his space but your head hurts and you’re mad.

So…it’s not his fault, right? But, you’re still mad. Should you forgive him? Let me ask you this…what did he do wrong that needs your forgiveness? Why would you forgive someone that did nothing wrong?

My point is this: you should forgive only those people who have intentionally done something bad to you or to someone you care about. Now, sometimes mistakes happen and usually someone is at fault. For example, let’s say in the above Wii scenario your friend swung too hard and the controller flew out of his hand and hit your television breaking it. Now, it’s his fault EVEN THOUGH he didn’t mean to do it. So he apologizes to you. It’s your choice to forgive or not forgive.

Jesus makes it pretty clear that we are to forgive people because He forgave us for our mistakes. We are to love as Jesus loves.