Forgive the Saint

It seems that it is much easier to forgive an outright sinner than a saint among us in the church.  We have a tendency to extend compassion and forgiveness to someone outside our community of faith more than within.  The difficulty with forgiving believers is that we know too much.  One of the things we know is that they should have known better!  After all, we are in the same church and hear the same sermons and "I didn't do it!"  True, but that very thought is in itself a sin too.  It's called self-righteousness.  We all have tendencies or inclinations toward certain sins.  For some it is lust and others it is greed.  Some struggle with lying and others with feelings of superiority and pride.  We all have them.  These inclinations are the potential for sin and maybe even a fall.  The Apostle Paul writes in 1 Cor. 10:12, "So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!"  Walking in an attitude of forgiveness helps us in our Christian walk.  There are a number of reasons why this is true.  Primarily we are setting into motion an atmosphere of grace and forgiveness around us.  We are sowing seeds of forgiveness that keeps bitterness at bay.  These seeds will come back to visit us in the form of forgiveness when we need it for ourselves.  I once knew a believer that had pride about their faith for healing.  When someone was sick around them, they had a tendency to be harsh and judgmental toward the suffering one.  Rather than showing compassion they would quote Scripture that the sick one should be "claiming".  One day the "faith person" became very sick.  When they needed compassion they didn't get it.  People responded to them much like the seeds of harshness they had sown.  "Stand on the Word", people told them.  It was harvest time!  From that experience the suffering "faith person" learned to show compassion to others.  In a way, walking in grace and forgiveness even works when people don't act in faith like we think they should.  We are in essence forgiving them for not walking in their faith life perfectly.  Pride in any setting is always wrong and ugly.  Grace extended is a beautiful thing.