Forgiveness
Many people have trouble forgiving other people who have hurt them or their loved ones. This is a critical issue, because most of the time continuing to be angry with another person hurts you much more than it hurts them. Also, it can turn into bitterness, which is very difficult to root out of your life. It tends to spread to other areas of your life and create a negative attitude about life and people. Therefore, we all must learn to forgive.
The main obstacle to forgiveness is the feeling that we are owed something because of what the other person has done. We feel justified in not forgiving them and even trying to hurt them until they repay us in some way. Sometimes, we want an apology. Other times, we want another specific action to be taken or stopped. First, we must realize that Jesus calls us to forgive them as He forgave us.(Ephesians 4:32) He did not ask us to be perfect before He died for our sins. He died for us while we were yet sinners. We must be willing to forgive the other person in the power of the Spirit as Christ forgave us.
Secondly, we must release them from their debt to us. Think of it like they owe you $1,000,000. You must come to the place where you tell yourself, "They do not owe me anything." Yes, it is hard to do, because you have been hurt. However, think of all of the ways we hurt Christ, and He still died for us. Once you do that, the anger goes away, and you are freed from the chance of having bitterness.
Now, that does not mean the other person will come around and do the right thing. You will never have a good relationship until they repent and come to you in humility to apologize. That is what we have to do when we come to Christ to receive His forgiveness. It takes two to be reconciled. It only takes one to forgive. The Bible commands us to love even our enemies, and to forgive those who have done us wrong. We can and should do that without delay, so we can get on with becoming more like Jesus.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Ecclesiastes 9-12.
The main obstacle to forgiveness is the feeling that we are owed something because of what the other person has done. We feel justified in not forgiving them and even trying to hurt them until they repay us in some way. Sometimes, we want an apology. Other times, we want another specific action to be taken or stopped. First, we must realize that Jesus calls us to forgive them as He forgave us.(Ephesians 4:32) He did not ask us to be perfect before He died for our sins. He died for us while we were yet sinners. We must be willing to forgive the other person in the power of the Spirit as Christ forgave us.
Secondly, we must release them from their debt to us. Think of it like they owe you $1,000,000. You must come to the place where you tell yourself, "They do not owe me anything." Yes, it is hard to do, because you have been hurt. However, think of all of the ways we hurt Christ, and He still died for us. Once you do that, the anger goes away, and you are freed from the chance of having bitterness.
Now, that does not mean the other person will come around and do the right thing. You will never have a good relationship until they repent and come to you in humility to apologize. That is what we have to do when we come to Christ to receive His forgiveness. It takes two to be reconciled. It only takes one to forgive. The Bible commands us to love even our enemies, and to forgive those who have done us wrong. We can and should do that without delay, so we can get on with becoming more like Jesus.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Ecclesiastes 9-12.