Forgiveness

Life becomes easier when you learn to accept an apology you never got. ~Robert Brault

I struggle with forgiveness and I know I am not alone in this.  Someone says something to you that cuts your heart and you wonder if you will ever be free of the burden that comes with unforgiveness.  It is a burden that becomes heavier each time you think of it and it can bury your soul. 

The sad part of unforgiveness is that the very people you love the most are the ones who can hurt you the deepest and it is worse when you know what is said to you is not true.  Our automatic human response is to retaliate.  One of the things that I think about when I have someone I need to forgive is how will I feel for that person when I stand before God.  Will I want God's punishment for that person and also am I willing to accept God's punishment for my unforgiveness when I stand before Him.  When I put it in this perspective it reminds me yet again of God's forgiveness to me for my sins.  

There are a list of things that we have to give up when we truly forgive someone.  We give up the right to be right.  We have to decide to not retaliate and to let it go.  The need for revenge must be set aside.  We have to choose to let it go and remember that if we hold onto unforgiveness towards our brothers and sisters in Christ, then this is how God will treat us unless we forgive our brother or sister from our heart.

Prayer for the Day: Father, I am so guilty of not forgiving others who have hurt me.   I am a sinner but I often forget that I am and my heart becomes filled with the need to respond in kind.  I want to be able to forgive as Jesus did in his short time on earth.  Please help me to love others  with the kind of love Jesus showed through His example.   

Scripture:   Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.  As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him.  Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’ “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.  When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened. “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’  In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”