Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Be a Great Forgiver

To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.  C.S. Lewis

Are you a great forgiver?  We all have things we need to forgive and the majority of the time what we need to forgive involves another individual in our life.  One of the best examples of a Great Forgiver was Jesus.  As He hung on a cross and was ridiculed by others He made this statement in Luke 23:34 “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” How many times do we carry a grudge against someone for something they said or did to us years ago?

Being a great forgiver means we stop waiting for someone to ask for forgiveness or make restitution.  When we allow the people around us to direct our path because we haven’t forgiven them then we have lost the battle.  Jesus didn’t look up at God when he was hanging from the cross and ask God to kill them all.  That is something we would do if we were in Jesus’ place.  We often want revenge instead of reconciliation.  We want the other person who hurt us to hurt too. The odd thing about it is most of the time the person who hurt you is already hurting from something someone else did to them or something that is going on in their life. 

One of the most important things about forgiveness is we can’t change the world if we are carrying around bitterness, anger and hate.  Letting go means living.  


Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, help me to forgive and let go of the anger and bitterness that occurs when others hurt me.  I want to be more like Jesus, who gave the ultimate sacrifice and still forgave those who hung Him on a cross.  Jesus died for my sin and I should feel the same compassion for others that Jesus felt for me when He died to save me.          
      

Scripture: He who covers a transgression seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates friends.  Proverbs 17:9


Forgiveness and Prayer

“And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”   Mark 11:25-26

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