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Posted on 08/21/2026 4:25:26 AM PDT by metmom
"[Love] does not take into account a wrong suffered" (1 Cor. 13:5).
If you love someone, you won’t keep a record of their offenses.
It is reported that when the Moravian missionaries first went to the Eskimos, they couldn't find a word in their language for forgiveness. They had to combine a series of shorter words into one compound word: Issumagijoujungnainermik. Although the word appears formidable, its meaning is beautiful, being translated: "Not-being-able-to-think-about-it-anymore."
You've probably noticed that unforgiving people usually have good memories. Some can hold a grudge for a lifetime. But love never keeps a record of wrongs committed against it. It forgives and is unable to think about them anymore.
That's what Paul had in mind when he said that love "does not take into account a wrong suffered" (1 Cor. 13:5). The Greek word translated "take into account" was used of the entries in a bookkeeper's ledger. Those entries helped the bookkeeper remember the nature of each financial transaction. In contrast, love never keeps a record or holds others accountable for the wrongs they've committed against it.
The greatest example of that kind of love is God Himself. Romans 4:8 says, "Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account." Second Corinthians 5:19 adds, "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them."
Every sin we commit as believers is an offense against God, but He never charges them to our account. We are in Christ, who bore our penalty on the cross. When we sin, we are immediately forgiven.
If you love others, you'll forgive them as God has forgiven you. Instead of holding them accountable for their offenses, you'll look beyond their sin to their potential in Christ. You'll heed Paul's admonition to "be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you" (Eph. 4:32). That's the character of true love.
Suggestions for Prayer
-Is there someone from whom you've been withholding forgiveness? If so, recognize it as sin and confess it to the Lord. Then be reconciled to that person right away.
-Thank God that He doesn't keep an account of your sins (cf. Ps. 130:3).
For Further Study
-What does Matthew 18:21-35 say about forgiving others?
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Studying God’s Word ping
Thanks metmom! God Bless you and yours!
I always find it useful to think of forgiveness in the context of whether I should be forgiven for something. If I am going to ask for forgiveness, I need to change my actions so that I don’t act that way again. I need to demonstrate a commitment to change. So I can forgive someone who wrongs me, but what does that mean in terms of my relationship with that person if that person does not change? Is my forgiveness just words? Or do I welcome the person back into my life only to have them harm me again?
We generally give people the ability to harm us. When people try to do it, I just don’t participate. I always assume the best of the people around me. When someone says or does something hurtful, I just ignore it. Very few people have the ability to affect my life anyway.
For unhappy reasons, I have a near photographic memory, particularly of painful events. The “forgetting” part is unavailable to me.
So, at every meal I pray for my enemies. When a painful memory comes up, I pray for the person who hurt me. I can DO forgiveness without necessarily FEELING forgiveness.
The question of the ages....
That is the best solution going.
It sure beats having it eat at you.
Ah, yes, nothing has consequences. All agency is erased. Evil is forgiven in all its manifestations.
Bullshitte.
Why not just go back to indulgences? Let the rich buy their forgiveness. Same thing.
If you are not willing to judge and then condemn, you have no business living among actual human beings.
Some people see it that way and expect that to be the case.
We are commanded to judge with righteous judgment. If someone clearly does something wrong, there needs to be accounting for it otherwise we end up with the scenario you presented.
I don’t think God intended for our forgiveness to turn into a license for sin or anarchy.
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