Monday 3 February 2020

As I Forgave You


First of all, we are humans. We can't help it ... that's the way we are, the way God made us, with a multitude of various emotions, fears, hopes and ways of interpreting many situations in our lives. We're complex creatures. He had His reasons to create us this way.

Being human ... one of our first instincts is to protect ourselves and the ones we love. Another feature of our humanity is the ability to remember ... the good times, but more specifically the bad times. The worst they are, the more terrible they've been, the more they are imprinted in our memories. Anything can and will trigger these memories again ... visiting a place, seeing a photo, hearing a particular song ... anything ... and the bad memories come flooding back again. That's the price we pay for being human.

Christ said: "Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who hurt us ..."

Thank God that He does not hold us to the strict letter of this particular contract; otherwise we'd all be taking the fastest elevator going down!

Yet ... He does hold us to the intent of that particular contract we recite in the Lord's Prayer.

He asks us to forgive ... that's the important thing. Not just seven times but seventy times seven … and many times more than that as well.

Forgiving someone means that we no longer hold a grudge, or any ill-will or ill-feelings towards them or the hurt they have caused us. We let them go in peace free of fear of any revenge or retribution on our part. This applies whether we tell them that they are forgiven, or whether they have moved away, or perhaps never asked or sought our forgiveness, and perhaps they don’t even care about our feelings.

What matters is that in our hearts we have truly forgiven them … and, here’s the difficult bit, … we can prove it to God should He ask us to.

Of course the memories will come back … we can’t help that. But let’s use them positively by forgiving once again. Let’ us use them as a reminder to pray for the ones who hurt us. Let us say to God : “Please look after that person … Enlighten them and lead them to find your love as I have found it too …” Would it not be wonderful if as a result of your hurt … and your prayers … someone finds God, perhaps for the first time.

Christ has His memories too when He sees the scars in His hands, feet and side. I believe He uses these memories to forgive us yet again.

Having truly forgiven, it is our right and duty to keep our distance from that person if we feel they create a threat to us or our loved ones. Keeping our distance is NOT a sin, and it does not mean that we haven’t forgiven or that our forgiveness is worthless.

Being human we can only forgive as humans. We cannot possibly forgive as He has forgiven, no matter how hard we try.

He was human, but He was/is God too … and that’s a level of forgiveness we can never achieve.

We can only hope to live by the intent of that particular contract in the Lord’s Prayer.

God bless.

20 comments:

  1. Spot on devotion today Victor. People get confused about the difference between forgiveness and forgetting. But forgiveness (expressed so well here) is absolutely essential.

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    1. Thank you so much, Bill. Much appreciated.

      God bless.

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  2. I agree with Bill... Very good explanation, Victor. It is important to understand the difference between forgiveness and forgetting. Not holding on to the bitterness of the wrong that has been committed is essential to moving past and not reliving the hurt on a continual bases.

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    1. Thank you Ryan. Forgetting is often so difficult.

      God bless you.

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  3. This is so important.

    Amen.
    Amen.

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  4. Thankfully God is capable of forgiving us easier than we are capable of forgiving ourselves. Forgiving others I can do so much easier than forgiving me. I am much harder on myself.
    Thank you for a wonderful post Victor.

    God Bless ✝

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    1. Yes, I pray that God is much more forgiving than us, Jan.

      As for forgiving yourself. Remember, once you have asked God for forgiveness, He has forgiven you. If you hold on to your guilt you are in effect resenting God's forgiveness. How do you think He feels about that?

      God bless.

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  5. I surely agree with all of this. Forgiving can be very hard. But if we start by ACTING like we have forgiven, and praying about it, I think we eventually will really forgive.

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    1. Wise words Ginny. We can also pray for those we have forgiven, or need our forgiveness.

      God bless.

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  6. Yes, even when those bad memories resurface, we can use them to forgive that person all over again. Beautifully expressed, Victor!

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    1. Thank you so much, Martha. It is often difficult to forgive once again; but we should try.

      God bless you.

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  7. This is, for sure, something with which I continue to struggle. Your words help! A lot.

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    1. Thank you, Mevely. We all struggle with forgiveness. That is because we still hurt. No matter how long ago we've been wronged, we still hurt. It's natural. It's like having a wound that will not heal. With a wound we put some medicine on it to subdue the pain. With forgiveness, we pray for those who wronged us in order to subdue our own hurt. You cannot possibly hate someone you pray for.

      I'm praying for you that your hurts may subside.

      God bless.

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  8. Oh, my, Victor. I will never forget how your teachings and advice on forgiveness was such a great help to me a few years back. It is amazing how deeply I forgave the ones who inflicted the hurt, and now I love them and feel such kindness toward them from a distance. You are a blessing here, and you are appreciated.

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    1. Many thanx, Cheryl. Forgiveness is not easy. And you were brave to be able to summon every ounce of courage and love to forgive those who wronged you. The Lord is very proud of you.

      God bless you.

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  9. I'm sure thankful that God forgives us!!!
    I'm an old softie and forgiving doesn't come that hard for me. I have found that praying for the person who has hurt you sure does help a lot in forgiving.

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  10. Yes, praying for them is very helpful in forgiving others.

    God bless you, Happyone.

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  11. Exactly. Praying for them helps a lot.

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I PRAY FOR ALL WHO COMMENT HERE.

God bless you.