Forgiveness

Forgiveness

Monday, August 12, 2024

3:38 AM

Unforgiveness is the opposite of forgiveness.  Both are a choice we make when others hurt us or wrong us.  There are times it is very easy and there are times it is very hard.  Sometimes it can take us moments to forgive and sometime we harbor the unforgiveness for a very long time.  Sometimes it can take a lifetime to forgive.  But it is always our choice to forgive or not to forgive.

Today I know that I have to and need to forgive someone who has stolen money from me.  I have harbored my unforgiveness long enough and it has weighed me down for over half of a year.  For my own peace of mind I have to let it go.  There are many reasons to hold on to this but I know there is no way I will ever be compensated for my loss.  He has nothing to give.  He has taken from others before and never made it right.  He is the one who has to live with his theft.  I, on the other hand, have the choice to let it go and move on with my life and this lesson I have learned about trusting another person.

Throughout life we wonder how someone can forgive the person who took the life of someone who was loved.  What about those who take the innocence of a child through lust?  What about those who cheat on their spouse?  What about those who lie over and over again?  The list goes on.  Sin is hard to forget about especially when that sin affects us on a personal basis.

In Mark 2:17 Jesus told the religious leaders who questioned his habits of being with sinners and tax collectors.  He said to them;

"It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." 

Over and over while Lord Jesus walked this earth he healed the sick and the sinner.  He told them to sin no more.  He told them to repent from sin.  He hung on the cross dying and said,

"Forgive them Father for they know not what they do."

In his last dying breath he forgave those who killed him.

When we offer forgiveness we release that person from our heart and mind and give them to God.  God knows what happened.  God knows everything and God has the final judgement on each one of us for the sins we have committed.

Matthew 9:13 Jesus says, "I desire mercy, not sacrifice."

The mercy we extend to others is what frees us from the bondage of unforgiveness.  They choose to be repentant for their sin or not.  But we are free from it and the Lord will bless us for the mercy we give to those who still walk in darkness.  Forgiveness is very hard to give sometimes but the unforgiveness will harden our heart.  A hard heart is not pleasing to our Lord especially since he bled and died for each one of us to save us from our own sin.

Matthew 6:14-15

For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.