For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
- Matthew 6:14-15 (NIV)
Oh boy, this one is going to be deep and long, but bear with me, I think you’ll find truth in what I have to say.
There are a few rules about forgiveness, you have to both forgive yourself and forgive others.
My pastor said in one of his (amazing) sermons “God will not spend the blood of His son Jesus if you will not be a conduit of forgiveness to others.”
In a seminar I recently attended the speaker said “Who doesn’t need to be forgiven? Who has unforgiveness in their life?”
We all need forgiveness, and I believe that we all have something that we need to forgive.
There is another quote out there “Unforgiveness is like drinking poison and hoping someone else dies.”
(Lots of quotes today.)
I have heard a few people argue the forgiveness thing, “how can I forgive this person for doing this to me?” “how can I forgive myself for letting this happen?”
Ya’all, listen: we are told to live more like Jesus, and guess what? Jesus came to earth so we could be forgiven.
I am not discounting the fact that forgiving others is hard, those who know my story know that some pretty horrific things have happened to me, but as I have grown closer to Jesus, I have realized that the pain these people caused is in the past, and by not forgiving them I am only hurting myself.
Why on earth would I want to keep hurting myself?
It is totally time for a song reference (it’s been a while)!
It’s the hardest thing to give away
And the last thing on your mind today
It always goes to those who don’t deserve
It’s the opposite of how you feel
When they pain they caused is just too real
Takes everything you have to say the word
Forgiveness, forgiveness
It flies in the face of all your pride
It moves away the mad inside
It’s always anger’s own worst enemy
Even when the jury and the judge
Say you’ve got a right to hold a grudge
It’s the whisper in your ear saying set it free
Forgiveness, forgiveness
Forgiveness, forgiveness
Show me how to love the unlovable
Show me how to reach the unreachable
Help me now to do the impossible
Forgiveness, forgiveness
Help me now to do the impossible
Forgiveness
It’ll clear the bitterness away
It can even set a prisoner free
There is no end to what its power can do
So let it go and be amazed by what you see through eyes of grace
The prisoner that it really frees is you
Forgiveness, forgiveness
Forgiveness, forgiveness
Show me how to love the unlovable
Show me how to reach the unreachable
Help me now to do the impossible
Forgiveness
I want finally set it free
Show me how to see what your mercy sees
Help me now to give what You gave to me
Forgiveness, forgiveness
I have been in situations that left me feeling quite betrayed.
I had to deal with it, to confront the person that betrayed me, I had to ask that person to forgive me for ever giving them the opportunity to betray me, and most important, I had to forgive that person.
It was hard, I didn’t even know where to start because I truly didn’t want to hurt that person or destroy the friendship.
Don’t get me wrong, there are some people in my life that I will never face again for my own safety, but I still have to forgive them for the things they did.
I had to get past the hurt, to walk in to understanding and forgive.
This is what we are told to do: forgive.
How many times have we betrayed God?
How many times has He forgiven us?
What kind of person are we, if we don’t have the same compassion that God gracefully shows us?
How can we ask God to forgive us if we can’t forgive each other?
There is a lesson to be learned here . . . hopefully you picked up on it if you have stuck around this long.
Forgiveness. Try it. You’d be surprised at how free you feel.
#dailybreadbykitty
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please feel free to share your thoughts, but please also be respectful.