I’ve always wondered why forgiveness is so hard! I’ve taken even years to forgive certain people completely. But in the process I’ve learnt some beautiful lessons. While im still a beginner and failed too many times in forgiving, sometimes I feel if only I had known about forgiveness long back I could have avoided a lot of pain.
Forgiveness makes us free!
We all should realize that unforgiving affects everything about us, it steals our sleep, our joy, our kindness and it even steals our ability to make steady decisions. While the offender is still at large, continuing with the evil ways why should the victim continue to suffer? I once realized that by holding the grudge I’m not helping myself.
Unforgiving attitude is a barbed wire that we’re holding, thinking we can some day entangle the offender not realizing that it’s going to hurt us more as we are holding it for a long time.
You may think forgiving them and being kind to them is of no benefit. Not true! Let’s say the offender is given right justice and punished severely. How does it benefit us ? Will it remove the hurt ? If the hurt is already hurting us why should we hurt us more with unforgiveness? Being kind to the offender benefits YOU more than the offender!
Proverbs 11:17 Those who are kind benefit themselves
Are you scared of scare crows?
Have you seen little children getting scared of scare crows? Even if you tell them that the scare-crow can not do anything to them they will still be scared looking at it. Sometimes we grown chaps do that too. We know that they can do nothing to us, Our God is in control, yet we are scared. There are some people who are piercing us with their (s)words and threatening actions and we are so scared to deal with them. But the biggest problem in mankind is assuming solvable things as unsolvable problems. Just like scare-crows these silly solvable-problems can scare you away from your destiny. Are these scare crows affecting your forgiveness? Do not fear! They can not do anything against you! Forgive them today!
Romans 8:31 When God is for us who can be against us?
Forgive now to forgive again
I know this is hard while I write this in pain. When we forgive hoping that they will change soon, we are setting ourselves up for a trap. I’m not suggesting that we get a “they will never change” attitude, ‘coz that’s judgmental. But if we set an “allowance” in advance to forgive again we shall save ourselves from a lot of pain. We should be willing to wait for them to change.
Colossians 3:13 Make allowance for each other’s faults and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you so you must forgive others.
What about the loss incurred ? Who will repay ?
Can our friends or loved ones compensate with their love? Is the offender rich enough to repay for our loss ? Can our parents give us back the lost years? Is our money powerful enough to rule everything? No. But there is someone who comes with reward and recompense.
Isaiah 40:10 See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power and he rules with a mighty arm.See, His reward is with Him, and His recompense accompanies Him.
What is Reward? The blessing that you deserve in the eyes of God through His grace. The harvest of all the good seeds that you sowed!
What is Recompense? The blessing that is jaw dropping awesome bestowed by God upon you to repay for all the pain and loss you have faced without having done anything wrong.
Dear pal,
Do we need more reasons to forgive? I know it’s not easy. Shall we have faith in the reward and recompense and forgive others? Shall we forgive so that we may be free?