I'll be serious for a moment....

Today I went to a funeral. I did not personally know the person who had passed away and that was a new experience for me (family member of a close friend). I almost felt like an intruder.
But I'm glad I went. Most of all, I was there to support my friend and honor the family member. But I also was reminded of a few things.

A little background: I was born, raised, and currently profess my faith as a United Methodist. I have been to Baptist churches but something was always a little different there (insert your own joke here). Today's service was at a Baptist church and the pastor definitely said a few things that I was not used to hearing. Not better or worse, just different.

He did, however, say one thing that I think will stick with me forever. He talked about the difficult situation surrounding the death of this person and said, "God does not hold us accountable for our sins. [He did pause to say how interesting that sounds coming from a preacher's mouth. then he continued...] God holds us accountable for our forgiveness. And he holds us accountable for what we are going to do with that forgiveness."
(Colossians 3:13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.)
He went on to say that God has taken care of all our sins. It is our job to pass along the forgiveness he has so lovingly shown to us. It was, of course, phrased much more eloquently than I have put it. but hopefully you get the point. Sins were taken care of before they were even a thought in our head. Forgiveness is not earned. It is a precious gift given freely and all God asks in return is that we forgive others in the same way.

Lesson learned: We are not all as different as we appear of pretend to be.

It got me thinking: How have I passed along Christ's forgiveness today?