Regular readers of this Blog, (that's just you and me, the two of us), will know that I often post humourous articles and fun stories here.
I know from analysing the stats that these articles often attract new readers who came here by searching for "jokes", "fun" or other similar words and, having found me, hopefully spend some time looking at the other more serious Christian posts; and hopefully get to know Jesus through what I write.
As I look at life around me, in my locality or on a wider scale through the news media, I notice that as a human race we still have not learnt to forgive.
We may well have advanced in numerous fields such as science, technology, the arts and so on ... but we're still unable or unwilling to learn the very basics regarding mutual peaceful existance.
We've all been hurt in life at one time or other. Some more than others. The hurt runs deep and the wounds are still raw and painful. No one is immune to being hurt.
The trick is - what do we do next?
Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, if my brother keeps sinning against me, how many times do I have to forgive him? Seven times?” “No, not seven times,” answered Jesus, “but seventy times seven.” Matthew 18: 21-22
According to my calculator this adds up to 490 times. But I'm sure Jesus did not mean to limit us to that number.
How do we forgive?
True forgiveness means that we no longer hold something against the one who hurt us. No thoughts of revenge, retribution, punishment or anything like that. We just let what they have done pass away and we move on.
Someone asked me the other day – I have forgiven but cannot forget the pain and
hurt caused to me. Does that mean I’ve not really forgiven?
The simple answer is:
If
none of the feelings mentioned above are in our hearts – then we have truly forgiven.
Jesus asked us to forgive. Not to forget.
Of course we'll remember the hurt. The more the hurt the more we'll remember as every day something happens to remind us. This is natural.
The second trick is:
We use every remembrance of the hurt to forgive once again.
We also use every remembrance to pray for the one who hurt us. We hand that person over to God as well as the hurt itself.
You cannot possibly hate someone you are praying for.
David calls down God's wrath on his enemies over and over in the Psalms---somehow I think this is not about God's retribution, but a lesson in giving it all to God--even judgement.
ReplyDeleteGood Post, Victor!
Blessings!
Thank you Lulu. You're so right.
DeleteGod bless.
What a powerful post this was...I loved your point about it being impossible to hate someone you are praying for...I have truly proven this, and I find that the more I pray for that person, the more my feelings towards them change from disdain to a sense of pity. Not a condescending type pity, but a feeling of my heart truly going out to them. I love reading your blogs. Thank you for pointing out that I can download your books for free...I want to do that when I have time to really absorb them. I wish you a very blessed Christmas!
ReplyDeleteThank you again Cheryl for visiting me.
DeleteIt's only by praying for those who hurt us that we can start to heal ourselves.
Some of my books are FREE from www.holyvisions.co.uk Others I have to make a small charge to cover production costs because they are available from AMAZON in paperback form or in Kindle. I have priced them low to encourage new readership.
Thank you for your kind words.
God bless you.