Reason #754
Forgiveness. Honestly, this is one of my least favorite subjects. Probably one of the hardest, too. I am thankful for forgiveness, don't get me wrong. I am super, super grateful to be forgiven. But practicing it is another issue. Forgiving, I suppose is really the issue at hand.
Truthfully, asking for forgiveness isn't all that easy. Because when you ask for it, that means you've done something wrong. And, not only have you done something wrong, you have to flat out admit that you know you did something wrong. What's worse is that you usually know you're going to end up having to ask for forgiveness about half way through whatever the situation is, but by then it's usually too late and so we just end up in a worse spot than planned. Yet forgiveness, when given, is so powerful and freeing. And when we are the recipient of such a gracious act, we feel better. Our conscious can rest, and we find that we can move on. But what happens when you don't ask for forgiveness or when you don't particularly want to give it?
The truth is, most of us rarely feel like apologizing. Usually, we'll apologize for the insignificant and stupid stuff like accidentally bumping into someone in a crowd or cutting them off in the grocery store aisle. But, a lot of the time, it appears to us that we don't really have anything to apologize for. Well, I'm learning that it's not really about how you feel, but it's about how you made the other person feel.
So this is where it gets tricky. Because most of us walk around feeling as if we're "owed." We have kept count of who we feel has wrong us, labeled it, valued it, and our ledgers are full. We are holding out on receiving an apology from that particular party and this is a surprise to them. Because they don't feel they owe us one. After all, from their viewpoint, we actually owe them one. And so no one apologizes because no one feels like they need to, and we all walk around secretly indebted and indebting one another.
But what if we just decided that we'd forgive people even if they never apologized? What if we didn't wait on that apology because we realized that forgiveness is so much more than just hearing the words, "I'm sorry." Honestly, "I'm sorry" doesn't really do much for me. I, like you, can tell when people are really sorry and so sometimes those specific words aren't necessary. However, we've all got that one way we seek out apologizes and we are keeping those "receivables" on our books until we hear it. Yet what if we chose to take the path less traveled, what if we chose to do the right thing, and what if we just decided we would let those wrongs go, forgive, and move on?
Yea, I know, it's not so easy. I have yet to figure this out, either. But I remember when Jesus said we'd receive the same amount of forgiveness that we showed to others. And, if I'm telling the truth, the amount of apologies I owe the Lord are so many that I could never repay them. And if so the gracious act of forgiveness has set me free from those debts, why do I feel justified to keep record of what I am "owed?"
We forgive because we are forgiven. That's it. That's why He asks us to do it. He would never ask us to do anything that He himself wouldn't do, and so if we want to look like Jesus, we've got to forgive. We forgive when they don't ask. We forgive when they do ask. And we forgive when they don't even realize that they need to ask. Because that's what God has done for us. Little things, big things, all things forgiven.
#754 - Because of the gracious act of forgiveness is good for all things.
"Forgive, and you will be forgiven." - Luke 6:37
Truthfully, asking for forgiveness isn't all that easy. Because when you ask for it, that means you've done something wrong. And, not only have you done something wrong, you have to flat out admit that you know you did something wrong. What's worse is that you usually know you're going to end up having to ask for forgiveness about half way through whatever the situation is, but by then it's usually too late and so we just end up in a worse spot than planned. Yet forgiveness, when given, is so powerful and freeing. And when we are the recipient of such a gracious act, we feel better. Our conscious can rest, and we find that we can move on. But what happens when you don't ask for forgiveness or when you don't particularly want to give it?
The truth is, most of us rarely feel like apologizing. Usually, we'll apologize for the insignificant and stupid stuff like accidentally bumping into someone in a crowd or cutting them off in the grocery store aisle. But, a lot of the time, it appears to us that we don't really have anything to apologize for. Well, I'm learning that it's not really about how you feel, but it's about how you made the other person feel.
So this is where it gets tricky. Because most of us walk around feeling as if we're "owed." We have kept count of who we feel has wrong us, labeled it, valued it, and our ledgers are full. We are holding out on receiving an apology from that particular party and this is a surprise to them. Because they don't feel they owe us one. After all, from their viewpoint, we actually owe them one. And so no one apologizes because no one feels like they need to, and we all walk around secretly indebted and indebting one another.
But what if we just decided that we'd forgive people even if they never apologized? What if we didn't wait on that apology because we realized that forgiveness is so much more than just hearing the words, "I'm sorry." Honestly, "I'm sorry" doesn't really do much for me. I, like you, can tell when people are really sorry and so sometimes those specific words aren't necessary. However, we've all got that one way we seek out apologizes and we are keeping those "receivables" on our books until we hear it. Yet what if we chose to take the path less traveled, what if we chose to do the right thing, and what if we just decided we would let those wrongs go, forgive, and move on?
Yea, I know, it's not so easy. I have yet to figure this out, either. But I remember when Jesus said we'd receive the same amount of forgiveness that we showed to others. And, if I'm telling the truth, the amount of apologies I owe the Lord are so many that I could never repay them. And if so the gracious act of forgiveness has set me free from those debts, why do I feel justified to keep record of what I am "owed?"
We forgive because we are forgiven. That's it. That's why He asks us to do it. He would never ask us to do anything that He himself wouldn't do, and so if we want to look like Jesus, we've got to forgive. We forgive when they don't ask. We forgive when they do ask. And we forgive when they don't even realize that they need to ask. Because that's what God has done for us. Little things, big things, all things forgiven.
#754 - Because of the gracious act of forgiveness is good for all things.
"Forgive, and you will be forgiven." - Luke 6:37