Forgiveness
“And it came to pass, that He was praying, in a certain place, and when He ceased praying, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord teach us to pray” And He taught them to pray in this manner, “Our Father, Which art in heaven , Hallowed be Your name, They Kingdom come, Thy Will be done on earth as is in Heaven, Give us this day our daily bread and Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us;”
In life, it appears two things will always exist; some people will always be cruel to others, and people will resist refraining to retaliate. There is something in human nature, that drives us to insult other people; some of us think that’s their life’s purpose. It absolutely amazes me that people think nothing of insulting other people but think the end of the world has come when the insults are returned. We don’t have entitlements when it comes to offending people. We don’t have the legal right to just hurt people for no being reason. Like the law of gravity that whatever goes up must come down,” there is an unwritten law that says, when offended, offend right back.
The problem with defending ourselves is sometimes even after we have defended ourselves, we still hold grudges. We will rehearse the offense over and over in our minds until we become begrudging, bitter, resentful, and hostile. Sometimes the hostility is so intense, that it turns to hatred.
Jesus was teaching His disciples one day, telling them that as His Followers, they would for certain encounter people along the journey who would not like them. When Peter asked Jesus about forgiveness, Jesus told them they were to forgive those who offended them. 70 times 7 times a day. We have misunderstood the principle of forgiveness.
Jesus was teaching His disciples one day, telling them that as His Followers, they would for certain encounter people along the journey who would not like them. When Peter asked Jesus about forgiveness, Jesus told them they were to forgive those who offended them. 70 times 7 times a day. We have misunderstood the principle of forgiveness.
We have assumed for years that forgiving meant we are door mats for other people to walk on. But what He was trying to teach them is control and constraint. We don’t ever have to vindicate ourselves; we release our issues to God; He will vindicate us. Christians are not weak; this is far from the truth. Forgiveness takes a lot of strength and a lot of will power. Jesus did not teach us to forgive because we are cowardly and He certainly did not mean that forgiveness in no wise means that everything gets swept under the rug. Forgiveness does not release the offender from their actions, what it does is frees us from our anger and places the person who offend us in the hands of God to deal with him/her, Himself.
I am not suggesting that letting go of hurts is easy to do. Certainly, forgiving someone who has hurt you is not by any means simple. I am suggesting though that we should make up our minds to forgive as soon as possible. Living with unforgiveness inside of our hearts day after day is like walking around with a time bomb without any clue of what or when it might go off. The slightest thing can trigger the fuse, and when that happens more innocent people will get hurt.
When we were forgiven by God, it did not mean that we were not guilty, it meant we were loved, and despite the things we did against God, we are forgiven. Forgiving those who offend us means we are obeying the will of God and releasing the issue in His hands so He can vindicate us.
A very important point that might impact us to let go of unforgiveness is while we are walking around with bitterness, being tormented with the memory of what someone said or did to us, they are living their best life totally unaware of the intense life we’re living because of them.
Unforgiveness is a dark place. It is like an aggressive cancer, attacking us emotionally, physiologically, physically and spiritually with a fierceness. It will destroy the healthy as well as the vulnerable parts of our lives. Unforgiveness will attack our bodies causing permanent damage in our lives.
Forgiveness releases us from that darkness and lead us away from the consequences of unforgiveness as heart attacks, depression, strokes, depression ulcers, and even cancer. Unforgiveness can change our lives over-night. But when we let go of that negativity, we release ourselves to be delivered and set free.
As Christians We are to forgive those who have offended us. Just as we have been forgiven by God, for the many offenses we did against Him, we are to forgive those who offend us. Almighty God loves us, and His love has covered our offenses against Him. It seems only right to me then that we follow in His footsteps if we are going to walk with Him.
When we look at our brothers and sisters, we should see ourselves in their reflections. We are all just imperfect people living by grace. Forgiveness begins with a decision to forgive 70 times 7 times a day.
