30 Days November, Day 18: Of Forgiveness
Forgiving someone sincerely and moving on from the offense can be on of the hardest things to do in life. It is not at all uncommon for grudges and feuds to span decades and even generations. Releasing the pain, anger, resentment and injury can be a monumental task, especially if the perpetrator of the offense has shown no remorse for the incident and further more continues to be the same person that they always were.
Jesus, in Matthew 18:22, famously instructs Christians to forgive each other seventy times seven times. This amounts to 490 times. This is an enormous amount as most of us struggle to extend forgiveness even once, far less to forgive an offender over and over again.
I do not for a moment think that the Lord is asking us to be push overs. He is however asking us to be compassionate with one another and extend the same mercy to each other that we would want for ourselves.
In my own life I have been faced with difficult situations where the very idea of extending forgiveness felt like a personal affront. It took realizing that I was carrying a heavy load of toxic emotions and pain, while the other people carry on their lives, seemingly unhindered. I was figuratively tending my garden full of weeds with much effort, while hating on them for tending flowers and achieving beautiful blooms.
Even when I recognized this I still had to fight through a big wave of bitterness as I ruminated over how unfair it was that I was suffering and they were not. I was angry at the world in general, that it was filled with such an unfair paradigm and that no one was doing anything about it.
Once I got over myself, I was able to see my problem clearly and do something about it. For me, I prayed about it and laid it at the foot of the Cross. It was no longer my burden to carry alone, and thus I shared it with my Redeemer.
This doesn't mean that it has evaporated into smoke. I still feel it from time to time but I do the same thing once I come back to myself. I am grateful that I have a Heavenly Father that never asks of me somethings that he has not already provided a way for me to bear. I truly cannot say the same of humans, we are fragile creatures, each imperfect and so that is all the more reason to forgive each other and to keep extending grace to one another.
I encourage you to do the same, because that weight will drag you down and make your life a heavier burden than it needs to be. If you find yourself telling the same old stories, with the same villains and the same sad outcome, it is time to rewrite your story and get to work on a different ending.
Jesus, in Matthew 18:22, famously instructs Christians to forgive each other seventy times seven times. This amounts to 490 times. This is an enormous amount as most of us struggle to extend forgiveness even once, far less to forgive an offender over and over again.
I do not for a moment think that the Lord is asking us to be push overs. He is however asking us to be compassionate with one another and extend the same mercy to each other that we would want for ourselves.
In my own life I have been faced with difficult situations where the very idea of extending forgiveness felt like a personal affront. It took realizing that I was carrying a heavy load of toxic emotions and pain, while the other people carry on their lives, seemingly unhindered. I was figuratively tending my garden full of weeds with much effort, while hating on them for tending flowers and achieving beautiful blooms.
Even when I recognized this I still had to fight through a big wave of bitterness as I ruminated over how unfair it was that I was suffering and they were not. I was angry at the world in general, that it was filled with such an unfair paradigm and that no one was doing anything about it.
Once I got over myself, I was able to see my problem clearly and do something about it. For me, I prayed about it and laid it at the foot of the Cross. It was no longer my burden to carry alone, and thus I shared it with my Redeemer.
This doesn't mean that it has evaporated into smoke. I still feel it from time to time but I do the same thing once I come back to myself. I am grateful that I have a Heavenly Father that never asks of me somethings that he has not already provided a way for me to bear. I truly cannot say the same of humans, we are fragile creatures, each imperfect and so that is all the more reason to forgive each other and to keep extending grace to one another.
I encourage you to do the same, because that weight will drag you down and make your life a heavier burden than it needs to be. If you find yourself telling the same old stories, with the same villains and the same sad outcome, it is time to rewrite your story and get to work on a different ending.
Comments
Post a Comment