“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.” (Matthew 6:14-15)
I can count on one hand the number of people that have ever really hurt me. That can be looked at as both a blessing and a curse. I’m glad that it hasn’t been more, but I don’t always have the experience to just shrug it off and, as they say, “forgive and forget.”
When someone betrays us, a number of things happen. There are the obvious ones: pain, hurt, anger, sadness, and disappointment. But there are also the less obvious ones, the ones that we, as the injured parties, don’t really think about. These are pride, jealousy, vindictiveness, and hatred.
The first list of emotions are natural reactions that dull with time. And with the grace and healing that God places on our hearts, we can forgive.
But the second list is a lot harder to shake off. That’s because those feelings stem from our sinful nature. The part of us that we don’t want to admit lives and breathes within, but does. Because we are broken people in a broken world.
Forgiveness is hard when we are experiencing these emotions. Like a half-starved beast in the backyard, Satan tosses scraps to it on a daily basis, keeping it hungry and vicious, but still strong enough to rip us apart.
Holding onto old hurts and anger, dwelling on past pain, obsessing over what-ifs and should-haves; these will all feed scraps to that beast. It’s our job, with God’s strength and mercy, to gentle the beast. To calm it with love and forgiveness, to offer it sustenance that won’t leave it hungry, but satisfied and full.
Forgiveness is hard, especially when the wounds are fresh and raw. And on our own, with the war cries of society calling for the blood of anyone who wrongs us, we are powerless against the beast within us. Through God alone can we find the peace that we crave.
We can forgive. And when we do, we can offer up our own sins to God for his forgiveness. By showing mercy and grace to others, it will come to us. And isn’t that a better way to live?
Have a peace-filled Monday!
Leave a Reply