Forgiving Others

Not forgiving others is one of the tactics used by Satan to disrupt, distract and destroy us. It can be said that there is nothing more difficult to do in this life than to forgive others and ourselves of mistakes, errors, untruths, murder, violence and abuse.

Each of us was, is and will continue to be imperfect and will dork things up. We fall to the enemy’s snares and hurt people through ignorance and stubbornness. For anyone unwilling to forgive someone else, in reality are either unwilling to forgive themselves or feel they have nothing in their own life needing forgiveness. 

We can be so stubborn and selfish and want what we want when we want it and have no patience for those who slow us down, wanting to mentor us or heaven forbid improve us. We fight the idea of forgiving someone else. We expect someone who has wronged us to crawl on their knees to us begging before we even consider granting them forgiveness.

We are so quick to point out someone else’s dirtiness while not seeing the dirtiness of SELF. We are good at spotting the littlest thing that someone else does wrong without even looking in the mirror at our own transgressions. We believe those who commit sin must repent while making excuses and reasons why we don’t need to do the same.

Think about this…what if those dirty people come into our path to teach us a lesson? This lesson may be exactly what we need. Think of all the people you have encountered in your life. As you think back on the last time you saw a particular person; it may have been weeks ago, years ago, or a once in a lifetime encounter. The reason…this person served their purpose in your life. Bottom-line, each experience or encounter serves a specific purpose.

So if the encounter is a lesson, think about the people who have hurt you. Have you allowed yourself to forgive them? Or are you still holding the pain? Do you find yourself thinking of revenge, or worse still, acting out those thoughts? Who is holding you prisoner…you or them?

Forgiveness is about taking back control and not allowing negative emotions to rule. It also is about letting go of all those bad emotions that could be responsible for pinning down your relationships! Hanging on to resentment, hatred, or anger will ensure that these destructive feelings WILL spill over into your current life and stop you from enjoying positive, successful relationships.

It takes great humility, honesty, faith and LOVE to forgive someone. Imagine having the same forgiveness Jesus had on the cross when He said “Father forgive them for they know not what they do”.

Until we are willing to ditch our PRIDE or desire for revenge we will never be able to forgive others or accept forgiveness. Love demands us to get off the high cloud you think you are resting on and humbly bow before those who hurt you and say “I Forgive You”. Even if that forgiveness is rejected, we can have the faith to know we followed what God commands of us just as he did on the cross.

The Choice is Yours