I challenge you to read all of this entry please. I feel it's extremely vital. I think we all need to be reminded of this!!
I have taken forever since writing a written blog. I apologize for that. I don't know how many actually read through these posts in comparison to just looking at pictures. At times I don't know if I write things for nothing or not. I always try to share how God has inspired me, and hope that it can shine on to others as inspiration.
I am a big forgiver. Sure I've had my spouts and times with friends where perhaps a relationship needs a break or I have hurt others, etc. I have always tried to be reasonable and to not think selfishly through those things. I usually think of God's purposes and feelings on whatever the situation is. I have ALWAYS let people know that I love them, forgive them, and hope for reconciliation. I am the type of person who always tries to resolve things as soon as a problem occurs. I don't believe in grudgery.
That being said It bothers my heart so deeply when I hear people talk out of anger about someone who has hurt them or one they themselves have hurt (or if they both are hurt in general and feel they each have their own reasons for why they feel their way is right). What about God's way, I say? When I hear many people I've known who have anger for others and refuse to forgive them, I see the bitterness in their eyes, faces, expression of speech, and the crazed selfishness that they possess. Not forgiving others WILL do that to you. You need to approach each other and discuss. If you forgive them to their face and they refuse you, you still did the right thing and can feel so relieved. It will not pain you any longer. Instead you'll begin to see that you can grow. I think NOT forigiving people stifles your growth and makes us stagnant in our faith.
Forgiveness is the best way to show love. Why do I believe that? Jesus died on the cross and took on ALL of our sins and no matter how painful that must have been on His shoulders, He did not grow bitter and blame others for it, but He gave it to God, decided to cleanse us and tell us he loves us. He did something that was NOT easy one bit, but showed as an example how powerful forgiveness is and HOW IMPORTANT it is.
Leto loves watching this little movie called The Tale of Despereaux in which I lit up so much when I heard this quote said in it. “Forgiveness is the strongest thing a person can feel. A single act of forgiveness can change everything.” That was deep to me. I highly recommend watching that movie to everyone by the way.
I'd like to share some scriptures on forgiveness that have helped me over the years (and believe me, for the longest time in my life I held grudges and blamed people for things and didn't believe some people deserved forgiveness. . God showed me the truth and taught me lessons that I think are vital to pass on).
"And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace." -Luke 1:76-79
Jesus was brought into this world to shine the power of forgiveness onto the world. Without forgiveness we tend to make ourselves unlikable. If you are not forgiving those who have hurt you and are not going to reconcile with those people who have hurt you, you'll become empty inside. Not only are you hurting yourself deeply, but you are hurting those around you. The way we treat others no matter how we might be treated, can hurt those we love and make them imitate us (for instance our children will also become bitter and lack forgiveness) or back away from you because they will see your selfishness wasting away. You start to make yourself hard to approach because you are holding back on the most loving thing you can ever do for someone else. . .forgive.
"He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things." -Luke 24:46-48
What is the point of Jesus' life if we can't even accept and share what He has done for us with how we treat others??? Everything we go through is a way to build our faith in Christ more. Slacking on forgiving others takes us further from building our faith!
"If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared" -Psalm 130:3-4
We go back to the first chapter in the Bible to see how a father who favoured his son which caused jealousy amongst his children to sell his favourite son into slavery. . .He pleaded that his son forgive his brothers once they found him (and that must have been incredibly hard). It touched his son's heart so much. Sometimes we need to take that hard step to humble ourselves before others and say, "I must have done something wrong." or "I am sorry I have hurt you." or "There are things I could have done differently, but we can't go back, so let's move forward together." This happened on a deathbed. . .but it's best to not wait until the last minute to forgive people. Joseph went through slavery and imprisonment into being exhalted. . .and still he forgave his brothers!!!! That is noble! Afterwards his brothers bowed and called themselves Joseph's slaves because they realized they did wrong.
'This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.' Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father." When their message came to him, Joseph wept." -Genesis 50:16-18
I believe that this next passage shows us that we become vulnerable to sin more if we do not forgive others!! That is why it's so important to forgive!!
"If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you, to some extent—not to put it too severely. The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient for him. Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him. The reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. If you forgive anyone, I also forgive him. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes." -2 Corinthians 2:5-11
This is so simply perfect to share and should speak enough volumes.
"And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins." -Mark 11:25
I often think of the story of the healing of the lame man. He had friends, he had family. He was obviously a loved man that they would help bring him to Jesus to be healed. Yet something Jesus said makes me think often. He told the man to get up and walk. . .he'd been a paralytic invalid for years but Jesus just told him to get up and walk and take his mat like it was nothing.
"Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'?" -Luke 5:23
This shows that it is easier sometimes to be lame and make excuses and say "this person did this. . ." than it is to just forgive someone. No matter what, Jesus still takes the time to forgive us. Therefore we need to be like Him in doing the same for those who are hard to forgive.
If you ever say "the Lord's Prayer" as if it is a rehearsed meaningless thing, how dare you. We are to live out what Jesus told us to do. Yet it says that we are to ask forgiveness of Christ and also should forgive those who go against us. But what do we do. . we continue to make excuses for years as to why we feel someone deserves to not be forgiven because of what they said or did. (Luke 11:4)
I often think of what Jesus said while lots were cast against his clothes. "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."(Luke 23:34) . . .Sometimes people just do or say things they don't mean at all. Yet we hold these things against them as if they did the worst thing in the world. How dare we not forgive them when sometimes they don't even know what they are doing and are hurting for what they did even if you believe they aren't hurting at all. They are. So are you obviously. Let it go. Give it to Jesus. Approach the person and tell them you forgive them!!
"Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you." -Colossians 3:13
"If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.' If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector. "I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. " -Matthew 18:15-18
VERY IMPORTANT
We last bring up the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant in Matthew 18:21-35. It's really long so I will just encourage you to go read it yourself. The first two verses say: Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times." No don't go counting thinking that once you forgive someone 77 times, you don't need to again. He was examplifying that you need to continually forgive people no matter how hard it is. That's how important forgiveness is!! We see a king who forgives his servant for not paying him what he owed and cancelled the debt, but the servant treats another servant poorly for not paying him back and puts him in prison. This hurt two people who saw it (proof that our lack of forgiveness will hurt others). The servant was called WICKED by the king. The king of course signifies Jesus and how he forgave us, but what do we often do? We could care less and spit in his face by not forgiving others of what they do. Then the king put the servant for torture for how he treated another. The end of the parable says THAT is exactly how God will treat us if we do not forgive others. Don't you think then that it is extremely important that you go and forgive those who have hurt you? You are being tortured in your hearts and souls for lack of forgiveness. Stop allowing that to happen.
---------
So no more excuses. Go forgive people.
