Understanding Forgiveness

Forgiving is rediscovering the shining path of peace that at first you thought others took away when they betrayed you. ~Dodinsky

Forgive all who have offended you, not for them, but for yourself. ~Harriet Nelson

The man who forgives is far stronger than the man who fights. ~Nathan Croall

I write a lot of devotionals about forgiveness because this is one of the things I really struggle with every day.  It is one of the most difficult sins for me to overcome so I work on it daily, I study God’s Word about it and I pray a lot about it. 

Our pastor spoke about forgiveness this weekend and it helped me to understand what forgiveness is and what it is not.  He also talked about how we get stuck in the process of forgiving.  This really helped me understand what forgiving means.

The following is a list that he gave about what loving our enemy is not:

Agreeing

Allowing evil to continue

Interrupting justice

The same as trusting

Being a doormat or always letting them run over you

Liking them

A one time event

Easy

The following is a list of what loving our enemy is:

Refusing to return evil for evil

Meeting legitimate needs

Refusing to rerun the offence

Refusing to play God

Opening the door to reconciliation

The thing that struck me in the sermon was that not all loving of our enemies will lead to reconciliation and God doesn’t say you have to like your enemies.  This is a struggle for me because I sincerely want people to like me.  What I have learned through this process is that not everyone will like me and that is ok.  I used to think that loving was like a popularity contest.  If everyone liked you they surely must love you too.  This was a distorted way of looking at what love really is. 

What is important is that I obey God in everything I do and it means there will be others who don’t like or love me.  It has taken a long time for me to get to this point and I am still working on it. 

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I struggle with forgiveness.  I know what You tell us in the Bible about forgiveness and how we are to forgive.  Please help me to forgive others and help me understand what your forgiveness means in my life.

 

Scripture:      Let love be without hypocrisy.  Abhor what is evil.  Cling to what is good.  Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another, not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer, distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.  Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.  Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.  Be of the same mind toward one another.  Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble.  Do not be wise in your own opinion.  Repay no one evil for evil.  Have regard for good things in the sight of all men.  If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.  Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord.  Repay no one evil for evil.  Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.  Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.  Romans 12:9-21