It seems to me, the subject of forgiveness needs a lot of in depth thought, right now. Well, not just right now but I think I sense a lot of unforgiveness out there, in the world and I feel the need to talk about it.
Who is the first person you need to forgive? I mean, before you can even think about forgiving others, who needs it first. You!
Mind you, not only am I fully aware that when I point a finger at you, there are 4 fingers pointing at myself -in this writing, I truly AM preaching both ways. You think I don't need it? Haha....nobody in the world, needs it more than me so come along for the ride.
If you're harboring bitterness against another, it's like a billboard pointing a finger away from you and at that other person. That's what takes over your mind - what they did to me.
But! And think about this. Why are you really mad? You know in your heart that if you hadn't allowed it, it wouldn't have happened and so you lose sleep. You toss and turn, some nights, fighting back at that enemy. That enemy doesn't even know it's bothering you, so who are you hurting? You! And why? Because you are mad at yourself.
"If only...this and if only...that". Every one of those 'if only's' is followed by 'I'.... You see, you know the truth you just don't admit it. You want to blame an enemy. Well, the enemy is you.
"If only I hadn't listened to him", "If only I'd followed my head instead of my heart", "If only I hadn't been so impatient", "If only I had married 'that other dream boat' ", "If only I'd never married at all", "If only I'd saved that money instead of blowing in all the wrong places".....and on and on and on. "I hate him" followed by "if only I....".
So who do you need to forgive? That 'I' person. So, ok, you made a mistake. You're not alone, you know. We all do it. Some of us will never let you know but we have our nights of tossing and turning.
First, you need to forgive yourself. Honestly and finally and forever, say to yourself, "I did it. It's over. Now let's go on from here." You need to look at yourself as nothing more than a human being with frailties. Perfectly capable of making huge mistakes. Learn from those mistakes and never do it again. That's called 'repentance'.
Unbelievers, think that word 'repentance' is some sort of ritualistic back whipping punishment, we bring on ourselves. It's not. Repentance is realizing where you went wrong, asking yourself and God to forgive you, then picking up the pieces and looking at tomorrow instead of yesterday. Tomorrow is there, it's coming, now what will you do with it? Will you waste yet another day, living in yesterday?
Flush it. Toss it. Dump it off on the lap of Jesus. He knows how to handle it, you don't.
Now look at yourself, through the eyes of God. What do you see? Another god? Or perhaps you rightly see, a dumb kid who needs the protection and guidance of his/her Father.
Talking to those who have children, can you look at your child and see all his future failures, every possible ugly thing about them? Or do you see a bright future and you cherish that child above all things? The latter, is how God sees His own children. They are His creation.
It's true, God filters His viewpoint with the blood of Jesus. Thank God for that, else He wouldn't be able to see us at all, for the covering of filth and sin. So you can thank Jesus for opening that door, for letting us stand upright and face God without fear. He bought you that freedom but He didn't pay the price, for you to turn your back on that freedom.
Jesus paid the price, so that you could have God back, as your Father and so that God could have YOU back, as His child. Rest in that peace.
Now back to YOU. If Jesus can forgive you for anything, how can you be so presumptuous as to NOT forgive you. Who do you think you are?
As long as you dwell on your mistakes, you can't see God and He can't get through to you because He gave you free will and He won't cross it. You have to willfully cloak yourself in your mistakes, in order to block God out of your life. So why hang onto it? It's in your way. Throw it at Jesus!
If you can't hear the birds singing and you can't see the green of the trees and the beauty in the clouds and if you can't see God's glory in the faces around you, then you are enslaved in your own personal prison, built by your own hands. That's no place to be.
Once you've accomplished forgiveness of yourself, then and only then, are you capable of forgiving others.
Now for the forgiving other's part. Until you do, that other person is ruling your life. You want that? They have a hold on you that nobody else can get rid of. You can get rid of it, in the snap of your fingers. Gone. Vanished. No power over you.
All you have to do is forgive. I didn't say forget. You go around forgetting the sins, others have committed against you and your up for another shot. You're not supposed to become stupid. You're supposed to learn. At the same time, forgive them.
You won't hold it against them any more. You also won't ever give them the opportunity to do it again. Your trust is in God, not man.
If you have someone in your life who constantly brings up the past mistakes, it's time to either straighten them out, or put some distance between you. That other person is constantly putting that weight right back on you, after you've managed to dump it.
If it's a situation where you can't put distance between you then it's time for a serious discussion. What you're going to say is, "I've forgiven myself. Who are you to keep repeating history and trying to burden me down with an old sin, that no longer exists? If I have to put that filth back on me, every time you open your mouth, I will have to find a way to distance myself because putting it back on me, is not God's will." They, in fact, are playing the devil's advocate.
My own daughter has carried ill will for ButterNut Ice cream, for years. Why? Because the past enemy always ate it. Just recently she bought some and said, "Praise God, I'm doing this in defiance. I'm free to make my own choices." I said, "Praise God, when the day comes you don't think about it at all". You see, she was openly admitting, the bitterness was still on her.
When the day comes that she can buy and eat Butternut ice cream and not have a single thought about that past bitterness, then and only then, will she be free.
When you dispose of bitterness, you throw it away. It's gone and has no more affect on you. THAT is freedom.
1 comment:
You are absolutely right!
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