Forgiveness

You may read this and think that it is a sermon. It may be but I am preaching to myself. It is not intended to shame anyone else or point a finger. It is what I need to learn and do over and over; It is my way of keeping me in the place I need to be and doing the right things.

Forgiveness.

This has to be one of the hardest things to do. Someone has said or done something to you or against you and now you have to forgive them, or do you? Well, lets say they realized what they did and have come to you and asked forgiveness. What do I do? I was really pissed and wanted to just rip them apart and now they have come to me and asked me to forgive them.

Matthew 18: 21-22

21 Then Peter came to him and asked, "Lord, how often should I forgive someone* who sins against me? Seven times?"

22 "No!" Jesus replied, "seventy times seven!

If I use the Biblical standard as shown from the verses above I am required to forgive over and over. Boy, this is hard to do but I need to, No! I must do it. I have been forgiven for things that I have done, when I have asked forgiveness, and even when I have not asked for forgiveness. I am sure there is someone out there that has forgiven me and I do not even know it.

What happens if I chose not to forgive someone that has wronged me? Specially when I have been forgiven for something similar.

Matthew 18: 31-35

31 "When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him what had happened.

32 Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, `You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me.

33 Shouldn't you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?'

34 Then the angry king sent the man to prison until he had paid every penny.

35 "That's what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters* in your heart."

I hope that if I have done something to someone and asked forgiveness that I would be able to forgive someone who has done that same or similar thing to me. My take on this is if I fail to forgive then the forgiveness I have begged for will not be forgiven and I will be required to pay for it. Wow, the consequences are pretty harsh.

What I need to do is forgive if I want to be forgiven. Not just from others but forgiven by my heavenly Father. I know that I have plenty to be forgiven for and I want that forgiveness so no matter the wrong that has been done to me I must not refuse to forgive also.

Matthew 6:14-15

14 "If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you.

15 But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.

No one is perfect. We all have our faults and I will admit I have my share. If I were to offend someone, I would hope that I would be made aware of what I did and that they would forgive me. With that expectation I must also be willing to do the same for others.

Colossians 3:13

13 You must make allowance for each other's faults and forgive the person who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.

I recall the times in my past that I have been so mad and upset with others that I wanted to strike back at them and hurt them. Wanting to say things to discredit them and who knows what else. Talk about being bitter. They say that bitterness is a hard pill to swallow. I have to agree with that and my hope is that I can refrain from becoming bitter towards others for anything they may have done to me.

Ephesians 4: 31-32

31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of malicious behavior.

32 Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.

What are my thoughts on forgiveness? First I want to be forgiven by God for all the sins that I have committed. I have asked for that forgiveness and believe that He has done so. Next there are those out there that I have wronged in some way. I want to be forgiven by them and I pray that they will do so. Then to make sure that I can be forgiven I need to forgive any and all that have wronged me, no matter the wrong. Even if they have not come to me and asked I must forgive. My prayer is that I do forgive, not holding anything against anyone else, keeping my mouth, and writing under control, to not harm another in any way. I want to have the kind of spirit that God would have for me.

Where am I

Over the past few weeks I have had some interesting questions put before me. They include, Who am I?, What do I possess that I am to offer to the world? and Where is my place? I find that these are very good questions and I need to examine them every day to get a glimpse of myself. Last night another question was put before me and it really got me to thinking. The question was Where am I? This is a really good question and I don't think there is an easy answer to it.

Where am I? I sat for a bit and thought about the question. Here is what popped into my head. Life is like driving down a four lane road. You position yourself in the safest part of the road and move ahead. Others are moving along with you, either in front of you or behind you, and some are right next to you. At times some will pass you by or you will pass them by. Then you see the yellow line that divides the road and see others traveling along, headed in the other direction. I am driving along, sometimes slowly checking out the scenery and seeing what is out there. There have been times I have stopped and gone backwards but most of the time I keep on moving ahead. At times I have found myself traveling 120 miles an hour wanting to get to the next place, all the while having to be careful of all that is around me, other traffic, people walking, road construction.

How do I respond to the outside forces? Do I actually respond to them or do I react. Do I swerve, do I speed up, do I slow down? What effect does that have on those traveling along with me? Am I putting myself in harms way by getting too close to the center stripe, or possibly do I cross over into the oncoming traffic? So much to think about.

I believe that I am where I am supposed to be but I find it hard to stay there. Reacting to the outside forces in ways that take me off the path I need to be on. Over my lifetime I have bumped into other traffic moving along with me. I could not tell you how many times I have nearly ran into someone in front of me and then there are the times when I have slowed down and have been hit from behind. Then the times when my reaction was so bad that I crossed that center stripe. looking ahead and seeing an accident fixing to happen. There were times when I caught myself and moved back into my proper lane. Sadly there are times when I moved across and side swiped someone and being honest I would have to say I even went head on and totally wrecked myself and others.

Staying where I am and maintaining the proper place is the biggest challenge that I have right now. I need to discover ways to keep myself grounded so that I respond correctly and not over react to what is happening. Understanding that there will be times when I fail but making sure that instead of having that accident that causes pain and heart ache, I find a way to correct and get back on the right path.