In the fifteen years I’ve been writing Words for the Day I’ve noticed that the command that is the most difficult for followers of Christ to obey is that we forgive others their injustices to us.
Ironically it is the cornerstone of our faith and had it not been so, we would all be doomed to hell forever.
Admittedly I struggle with forgiving others and myself. When someone wrongs me I get angry, bitter, and want some revenge and payback!
Everyone at one time or another has been hurt by the actions or words of others. These wounds can leave us with lasting feelings of anger, bitterness and yes even vengeance, but if we don’t practice forgiveness, we’re often the ones who incur the most damage.
How so? By brooding about it constantly and then bringing our anger and bitterness into every relationship and situation that we encounter. Our lives often become so wrapped up in wrongs from the past that we can’t enjoy the present. As a result we become depressed, anxious and totally devoid of peace.
When we fail to forgive it removes meaning and purpose from our lives because it puts us at odds with our Creator who not only desires that we forgive others as He has forgiven us, but demands it by saying that we cannot be forgiven unless we forgive others.
Candidly if it were not for that command, I wouldn’t ever forgive anyone because it’s not in my nature. Forgiveness is spiritual in nature and not of the flesh.
By embracing forgiveness we can embrace the peace, hope, and joy that only come from God. As we let go of our grudges, we no longer define our lives by how we’ve been hurt. In fact we can find understanding which leads us to compassion and we can focus on God’s true purpose for our lives.
So what is forgiveness? The dictionary states that forgiveness doesn’t mean that you deny the other person’s responsibility for hurting you, and it doesn’t minimize or justify the wrong. You can forgive the person without excusing the act.
Generally, forgiveness is a decision to simply let go of resentment, (and thoughts of revenge). The act that hurt or offended you might always remain a part of your life, but forgiveness can lessen its grip on you and help you focus on other positive parts of your life. Forgiveness should lead you to empathy and compassion for the one who hurt you.
Okay let’s give it a try. Personally I believe that President Obama has done more to harm our once great country than any other person since it was founded. I believe him to be a narcissist and his arrogant and smug demeanor is nauseating to me.
It is most difficult for me to forgive this man for what he has done and is doing to this country. God wants me to let go of those dark thoughts of anger, bitterness, and resentment and focus on other parts of my life.
Okay let me get this straight. God wants me to forgive President Obama for the great wrong that he has done to my family, me, and my country. His actions cannot be minimized, justified, or excused and we will have to live with the problems he has created for some time to come, including all of the damage that he and his administration have inflicted upon our economy, health care system, military stature around the world, racial relations, energy needs, and morality.
Okay Mr. President I forgive you.
Really?
Gulp . . .
A friend of mine and I were talking yesterday and he told me that he led a wild hedonistic lifestyle back in his crazy youth, but later in life found Jesus Christ and has followed Him now for some 25 years. Now he’s preaching the Gospel and his church ordained him. Now this old boy has been married and divorced five times and has done all sorts of things. Does it make any sense (especially to any of you fundamentalists in the crowd) to forgive this man his sins and ordain such a heathen as a minister?
My friend has had a difficult time forgiving himself, (like so many of us who have done things which we now deeply regret). He sought advice from a dear friend who is a man of God himself, and his wise old pastor friends told him, “Why son, God doesn’t even remember any of that. If God doesn’t remember it, then why would you worry about it?”
Hmmm . . . God not only forgives but He forgets. We become new creatures when we accept Christ because of what He did on the cross.
Forgiveness can lessen the grip that past injustices hold on us and help us focus on other positive parts of our lives. But I tell you it is something that requires God’s strength as in Phil. 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”.
I’m calling on Him to help me forgive and forget in the fashion that He does, because I can’t achieve it on my own. I say it every day and will continue to do so. I am weak but He is strong!
Isaiah 43:25
“I, even I, am He that blots out your transgressions for My own sake,
and will not remember your sins.”
Jeremiah 31:34
“For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
Hebrews 8:12
“For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their
iniquities will I remember no more.”
Hebrews 10:17
“And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.”
September 12, 2013 – Click here to listen