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Good morning. Today is Sunday, August 16th!

🥳 Congratulations on starting today with God, and thank you for letting us be a part of it.

📖 Verse Of The Day

— Luke 17:3

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🧠 Devotional

Can you forgive someone who never apologizes?

The answer is yes. But there’s a reason Christians sometimes wrestle with this question.

In Luke 17:3, Jesus says, “If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them.”

That last part can catch you: if they repent.

Does that mean forgiveness has to wait until someone says they’re sorry?

Well, look at the rest of what Jesus taught.

In Mark 11:25, He says, “If you hold anything against anyone, forgive them.” No apology is mentioned there. Jesus also tells us to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44).

Then Jesus ends up in the exact situation He was talking about.

While He is hanging on the cross, He prays, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).

Think about that for a second. Jesus isn’t responding to an apology. The people crucifying Him are still crucifying Him.

Stephen does the same thing in Acts 7. As he is being stoned, he prays, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”

The stones are still coming when he says it.

So Scripture gives us a pretty clear picture. You don’t have to wait until someone apologizes before you forgive them. But that doesn’t make Luke 17 unimportant.

Notice what Jesus says there before He says forgive: “rebuke them.”

In other words, forgiveness doesn’t mean pretending nothing happened. Jesus leaves room to say, What you did was wrong.

And this is where forgiveness and reconciliation can get confused.

You can forgive someone without the relationship immediately going back to normal. Reconciliation involves both people. Trust can take even longer. If someone keeps lying to you, forgiving them doesn’t mean you have to keep believing them.

Forgiveness is about what you do with the wrong done to you. You give up revenge. You refuse to let hatred take over. You pray for the person instead.

That’s why Jesus and Stephen are such powerful examples. Neither waited for the people hurting them to become sorry before showing mercy.

Someone else may never give you an apology.

But they don’t have to give you an apology before you can give up your grudge.