Have you ever been forgiven?
Have you ever forgiven someone?
Do you really forgive and forget?
Do you forget about your wrongdoing after you are forgiven?
I don't know about any of you, but I do know that I can easily forgive some people, or maybe I should say some "crimes" but other things are really hard for me to forgive. Why? I don't know! God forgives me for all the stupid things that I do, so why can't I forgive the stupid things that people do to me? It is so easy to be angry with someone and never really get over what they do to you. It is also easy to get over it.
We all too often wrong our friends, family, coworkers, acquaintances, or whomever, and think nothing of it. We might talk about them, steal from them, hurt them, beat them, don't help them, or who knows what else. When they find out or when we tell on our self, do we not expect them to forgive us and not hold that against us? I know I hope they do just that. However, when the shoe is on my foot, how quickly do I do that? Regardless of the circumstances, I have come quite far in not holding peoples wronging me against them. Once upon a time I would have cussed them out and even possibly tried to fight them depending on the offense. Now I TRY to just realize why they might have done this to me and then move forward, even if they won't or refuse to apologize to me. It is really not about me and that is hard to realize about yourself. If someone is wronging me and they do not make amends, God will deal with them eventually in His own way. I do not have to worry about it.
Today's verses, Matthew 18:23-35, tell us how the master forgave the man of his debt because he begged him too, but then the man turned around and choked a man in the street for owing him a debt and he begged to be forgiven too. He ordered the man to jail until he could repay the debt. The people had seen the mercy that the master had on him, and were outraged so they told the master. The master turned around and asked the man how he could do such a thing when he had given him mercy for his debt. The man got to go be jailed as well until he could repay his debt to the master.
God will deal with all of our problems, issues, concerns, and whatever else if we just ask Him to do so. We do not have to worry about getting revenge on people, we do not have to worry about teaching people a lesson, we do not have to worry about anything! God has got it ALL under control and will be handling it according to His will anyways. All we can do is accept that people are sorry at that moment and pray that the person does not make the choice to wrong us again. If they do, then you can deal with it at that time. This does not mean you have to be a fool, but it does mean that you do not have to walk around with anger, resentment, spite, or any other thing but love in your heart. Love all people because they are children of God and know that we (me & you) will all make our fair share of mistakes and that no matter what, a sin is a sin. No sin is greater than another. I may lie to you, but you may steal from me, your family member may talk about you, your friend may be an adulterer, who knows??? It is not our job now or ever, to condemn or judge or treat them wrongfully, just love and try to deter them from committing the same offense.
Please find forgiveness for someone in your life that has wronged you in some way. TODAY!!! Not tomorrow, not next week, TODAY! Ask God to forgive YOU for holding that person to a higher standard than God even holds you to. Ask God to soften your heart so that you will not be so angry/hurt/resentful towards that person or people. It is hard to forgive, but remember the sacrifice that was made for you to be forgiven of ALL of your sins, the ones you have committed, the ones you are committing now, and the ones you WILL commit. None of us are any better than anyone else.
Trying to forgive and be forgiven,
Kari
Have a great weekend!
