A story I came across recently read like this, "A married couple began to have several quarrels – over seemingly little things. Clothes left on the floor, the garbage not emptied, the clothes hamper overflowing. Yet, during these verbal conflicts the wife was able to remain calm and quite poised. One day her husband commented on her cool composure. “How is it, that you remain so calm when we fight? You never fight back!” he exclaimed. “Oh, that’s easy. I just clean the toilet,” the wife said.
“What does cleaning the toilet have to do with an argument?” he asked.
She answered quietly, “I use your toothbrush…”
Ewwwwww, right?! Hang with me, reader. I have one more illustration. I think you know where I’m going with this.
Another author wrote, "A police officer was in a minor traffic accident and wound up in the hospital for an over-night procedure. The following morning, he thought he felt a bandage on his chest. This was confusing because he had been admitted to the hospital for a foot surgery due to the car accident – no chest injuries were involved.
After a bit of a struggle, he was able to scuff his hospital gown down low enough to see his chest. He wanted to investigate what had happened. He was thinking some kind of medical malpractice must have occurred.
So, yes! To his surprise there was a huge bandage. The sticky kind that would be very painful when it was time to be removed from his hairy chest. On the bandage, he found a written message…
“A gift – from the nurse you were so rude to yesterday.”
Ouch!
Maybe you’ve had those thoughts before too – or heaven forbid, but maybe you’ve experienced that false since of victory from an act of revenge! Revenge is short-lived and long in suffering. For you – not the other person.
We can examine the Book of Matthew and Simon Peter’s question to Jesus about forgiveness…He asked Him how many times should one forgive. It was Jewish custom/law at the time to forgive up to 3 times, but more than that was unnecessary. You probably recall Jesus’ answer…Peter mistakenly thought seven times would be plenty of forgiveness. But Jesus said no, but, “Seventy times seven.” That’s a lot of forgiveness isn’t it? Maybe you did the instant math in your mind – 490 times? For ONE person?
Ah, but let’s not miss the point. Jesus was saying in essence that forgiveness has no limits, it has no boundaries. Forgiveness is at the heart of the Christian faith.
We should not hold grudges, carry resentments, or secretly work against people. It’s NOT what Christians should be about.
C.S. Lewis one wrote that he had finally forgiven a man after the man had been dead more than thirty years! Whoa! He carried around resentment and some sort of bitterness for OVER 30 years. Yet, as he often points out in his writings, the other person is enjoying their life – not worried about YOU at all. Why do or would we do this to ourselves?? We’re really hurting ourselves when or if we do this! Not them! I truly believe that one of the best gifts we can give ourselves is the gift of forgiveness! In the human aspect, it helps the forgiver more than the forgiven. In the Godly perspective, complete forgiveness gives us freedom from guilt, sorrow, and hurt. God's forgiveness is for eternity!
Examine your heart. I think forgiveness is challenging for most people. It goes against our nature as human beings. We quickly go into “self protect” mode without even realizing it sometimes. Do you need forgiveness? Do you need to forgive someone?
Personally, I have found that prayer is one of the strongest vessels for God to speak to me – to break down the walls of unforgiveness in my own heart. (Life Moment: Sure, people hurt me and do things in the wrong spirit towards me too – Christians aren’t exempt from pain!) But when I start to pray about the situation, to pray for the other person, God shows me a different light. He will forgive them – just like He forgives me for wrongs that I do. (I feel that it’s okay to pray to God about injustices, but it’s not okay to ask for revenge!)
The Christian needs to be obedient and offer forgiveness too – even if the other person doesn’t want it.
To me, the best reason to forgive is because Jesus commanded us to forgive. We learn from Scripture, if we don't forgive, neither will we be forgiven!
Look UP my friends!
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