There is a version of forgiveness that we quietly reserve for people who earn it. They admit what they did, they say it well, and then we release them.
That is not what Colossians describes. The standard is not their repentance. It is Christ’s forgiveness of you, which arrived, if you remember, before you had cleaned anything up.
This is not a claim that what happened was small. Forgiveness is not a verdict on the offense. It is a decision about who is going to carry it. Unforgiveness feels like holding someone accountable, but it functions like a debt you pay daily on their behalf.
You can forgive someone and still not trust them. You can release them and still keep the door closed. Forgiveness is not reconciliation, and it is not permission.
It is simply putting down something that was never yours to hold.
