Forgiveness. A word that means ‘to stop feeling anger toward someone who has done something wrong; to forgive someone for doing something wrong English Learners Language Definition). When it is put to paper it seems so easy. We just forgive. But what if that someone stole something that meant a lot to you? What if someone lied to you? What if someone physically hurt you? My husband and I watched a christian movie a while ago that was about a Pastor and his wife and their two children. One of them was a 9 year old boy that was walking home from a basketball game when a teenage girl hit him because she was texting. The young boy ended up dying. The rest of the movie was about the parents being able to forgive that teenage girl. Now I ask you, would you be able to forgive in that situation? In my opinion, I don’t know if anyone could honestly answer that question without having gone through it. We don’t truly know how we would feel until we are in it. But I think about that movie a lot. At the end of the movie, the pastor and his wife end up forgiving the young teenage girl, saving her from going to jail for the rest of her life, and the girl then becomes a member of their church. I wonder if I would be as forgiving. Now, I get that this is a movie, but it’s a reality for some. There are people who have faced this extreme level of hurt and were still able to forgive the person who caused it. My husband and I had to see our little boy in the ICU for 15 days because of a young man’s actions, but our son lived through it, thank God. I just can’t imagine the pain if we had lost him…and I think to myself, would I have been able to forgive?
The only thing I can do is thank God for bringing Cohen through so I don’t have to live that reality. However, we all have to go through situations that need forgiveness. Sometimes we have to forgive the same person daily. Some may think ‘I’ve forgiven this person 2 times, they will never learn so I am done.’ But let’s look at what the word says, Matthew 18:21-22, Then came Peter to him, and said, Lor, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven. See, we read that God tells us that we are supposed to forgive one another seven times seventy times! That’s a lot of second chances! We find it hard sometimes to want to give our forgiveness to someone who has hurt us deeply and that is because we are flesh and blood. It is not in our nature to forgive someone who has caused hurt and pain in our lives. But if we have God inside of us, then we have the ability to forgive, we just have to fight against our carnal selves and dig deeper into our spiritual selves. Dig until we can find the love that God placed inside of us. When we find that love, we can remember that love can conquer all. Jesus conquered our sin and shame on the cross. He gave his forgiveness to us then and He does it over and over again for us now not because he feels he has to, but because he loves us. If we love, we must forgive. The bible touches on those who we love.
In Luke 6:27-28 it says, But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. It’s easy for us to love our families, our friends, and those close to us. It’s easy to forgive them. But what about our enemies? The bible says that we are to forgive them as well. We are to love and forgive those who hurt us and cause us pain. Does forgiveness mean we have to like what they did to us? No, it means we are to love them in spite of what they did to us. This forgiveness will come through prayer, maybe a whole lot of prayer. God may have to wok on us for a while, but it is up to us to come to the conclusion of forgiveness. We must not have the mindset that by forgiving someone who has hurt us they are getting off easy, or that they aren’t learning a lesson because the bible touches on that as well in Romans 12:19, Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. God will take care of the person who is causing that hurt or pain to others, He will work on them when the time is right, but it is up to us to forgive. When we don’t offer our forgiveness to others, God cannot forgive our sins that we do. We see this is Matthew 6:14-15, For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. We must forgive others in order to be forgiven. Not forgiving someone when they hurt you only causes you pain. We hold in this bitterness and anger toward that person and it grows every time we see them or speak to them until eventually we are nothing but a miserable person. All along, the person who caused you pain goes about their lives happily. But if we choose to forgive that person we can also find happiness in knowing that we place our hurt in the hands of God who sees all and will do the work needed on the person who caused pain. We are not God, therefore it is not up to us to crate wrath for someone else. Today, I urge you to put away your anger and bitterness towards someone who has hurt you in the past or the present. Choose to forgive them, to love them in spite of what they have done to you, and leave the wrath in the hands of God. He is the only one who can truly change a heart. And if you are holding on to pain, hurt, bitterness or anger towards someone, go into your prayer closet and talk to God about it. Put all you are feeling into God’s hands and allow him to work on your heart. He can and will help you towards forgiveness if you allow him the opportunity. Choose happiness today, choose love today, choose forgiveness and choose to live a better life because of it.
He gives us Roots so we can Fly. Roots and Wings.
