Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. James 5:16

There’s much discussion today about what constitutes a genuine apology.  Is apologizing alone is good enough? Have you noticed that public apologies almost never include the words, “please forgive me?” It’s usually more like, “Mistakes were made,” or “I misspoke.”  Can we forgive when an apology is inadequate?

Have you ever received a flippant “Sorry!” for an apology when the offender should have taken more responsibility? When the offending party says, “I didn’t mean that” or “I was just joking” or “I was young,” we recognize that they are not taking responsibility for having caused pain. A true apology requires a serious confession and a request for forgiveness.

Genuine apology is so healing, but we know that not everyone will offer a true apology. What we can control is the quality of our forgiveness. Usually, our real desire is to see the offender suffer so that they know how wrong they were. Or, some of us are quick to say, “Oh, what happened to me was okay.” But suppressing our pain is not actually forgiveness. What happened to you was not okay. Suppressed hurt becomes a grudge that will spring out of you eventually.

If you’ve been wronged, given an inadequate apology and are struggling to fully forgive, lay your pain before God. Ask God to hold your hurt and be in charge of retribution so that you can let go of that burden. You can say, “I will thank the Lord because he is just” (Psalm 7:17).

Resource reading:  Hebrews 12:12-17