If I were to ask you to name something that Christians struggle with, what would your response be?
If someone were to ask me that question, my response would have to be forgiveness.
Forgiveness is not something that comes naturally to people.
Much of this comes the conditioning the world administers to us even at an early age.
We are taught not to let others take advantage of us.
We are taught to stand up for ourselves and our rights.
We are taught these and other similar things time and time again.
Sometimes people we know either do something or say something to which we take exception.
Often times the other person does not even realize that we have been wounded by their words or actions.
So why should people, especially Christians, be more forgiving.
First, because we are told to forgive by none other than Jesus Himself.
Peter asked Jesus how many times he should forgive a brother who sins against him and offered seven times as an answer,
Matthew 18:22 (NET) - Jesus said to him, "Not seven times, I tell you, but seventy-seven times!"
Jesus used the figure seventy-seven times to illustrate the importance of forgiveness.
In other words, we are to forgive our brother who sins against us every time no matter how many times that happens to be.
Second, we should remember that we are not always on the receiving end of sin.
Whether we realize it or not, sometimes we are the ones that hurt others.
Jesus reminds us of this and the need to forgive in the Lord’s Prayer.
Luke 11:4 (NET) - "... and forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation."
When it comes to forgiveness and its importance, there are numerous examples I could give and passages I could recite.
Yet Jesus gave us the finest example of all during His crucifixion.
Luke 23:34 (NET) - But Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing." Then they threw dice to divide His clothes.
That really puts things into perspective.
If Jesus is willing to forgive so much...
... shouldn’t I be willing to forgive my brother of so little by comparison.
One more thing about forgiveness.
With forgiveness comes freedom.
When we feel wronged and are unwilling to forgive, we cannot help but dwell upon it.
As we dwell upon the wrong done to us, our life is like a ship held firmly in place by an anchor.
When we forgive...
truly forgive...
we don’t just pull up that anchor...
we cut it loose completely...
and free ourselves from our burden...
and thus free ourselves to move forward with life again.
Some things may seem harder to forgive than others.
No matter the circumstance... we don’t have to do it alone.
We can ask God for help.
With God, all things are possible.
Blessings,
Jim Pokorny
The Other Brother Jim
http://otherbrotherjim.blogspot.com/
If someone were to ask me that question, my response would have to be forgiveness.
Forgiveness is not something that comes naturally to people.
Much of this comes the conditioning the world administers to us even at an early age.
We are taught not to let others take advantage of us.
We are taught to stand up for ourselves and our rights.
We are taught these and other similar things time and time again.
Sometimes people we know either do something or say something to which we take exception.
Often times the other person does not even realize that we have been wounded by their words or actions.
So why should people, especially Christians, be more forgiving.
First, because we are told to forgive by none other than Jesus Himself.
Peter asked Jesus how many times he should forgive a brother who sins against him and offered seven times as an answer,
Matthew 18:22 (NET) - Jesus said to him, "Not seven times, I tell you, but seventy-seven times!"
Jesus used the figure seventy-seven times to illustrate the importance of forgiveness.
In other words, we are to forgive our brother who sins against us every time no matter how many times that happens to be.
Second, we should remember that we are not always on the receiving end of sin.
Whether we realize it or not, sometimes we are the ones that hurt others.
Jesus reminds us of this and the need to forgive in the Lord’s Prayer.
Luke 11:4 (NET) - "... and forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation."
When it comes to forgiveness and its importance, there are numerous examples I could give and passages I could recite.
Yet Jesus gave us the finest example of all during His crucifixion.
Luke 23:34 (NET) - But Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing." Then they threw dice to divide His clothes.
That really puts things into perspective.
If Jesus is willing to forgive so much...
... shouldn’t I be willing to forgive my brother of so little by comparison.
One more thing about forgiveness.
With forgiveness comes freedom.
When we feel wronged and are unwilling to forgive, we cannot help but dwell upon it.
As we dwell upon the wrong done to us, our life is like a ship held firmly in place by an anchor.
When we forgive...
truly forgive...
we don’t just pull up that anchor...
we cut it loose completely...
and free ourselves from our burden...
and thus free ourselves to move forward with life again.
Some things may seem harder to forgive than others.
No matter the circumstance... we don’t have to do it alone.
We can ask God for help.
With God, all things are possible.
Blessings,
Jim Pokorny
The Other Brother Jim
http://otherbrotherjim.blogspot.com/
0 comments :
Post a Comment