Forgiveness is for YOU!

God gives us many gifts but one of my favorites has to be forgiveness. Let me explain........

God gives us many rules to follow and for good reason. He is teaching us to live right and justly. God's greatest gift to us was His Son, Jesus dying on the cross for OUR sins. God wanted us to be right with Him! And then to receive his forgiveness all we need to do is repent and ask. There is no sin so bad, that can't be forgiven. The key is to repent and truly turn from your sin. God knows our heart better than we know our heart and he'll know if we are "faking" it.

There is one more part to forgiveness and that's forgiving others. Matthew 6:14-16 "For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." It makes sense, doesn't it?! How can you expect God to forgive you when you are holding grudges against others.....? Mark 11:25 "And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins."  


I know forgiving is NOT easy. It can be really hard to let go of the bitterness, anger, resentment, and hurt. And sometimes we don't want to let it go. We like the feeling for whatever reason. But the reason I love God's gift of forgiveness is because I don't have to hold onto those horrible feelings and I don't have to avenge the wrong done to me. Romans 12:19 (NIV) "Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord." 


When you forgive someone, you aren't "letting them off the hook". I think when we forgive someone we feel like we are saying it was okay whatever he or she did. But in reality you are freeing yourself from those horrible feelings of hatred, bitterness and anger. Eph 4:26-27,31 (NIV) "In your anger do not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold... Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice."  


"Corrie Ten Boom, a Christian woman who survived a Nazi concentration camp during the Holocaust, said, 'Forgiveness is to set a prisoner free, and to realize the prisoner was you.'"

Forgiveness is a choice and a choice you'll have to make many times. Sometimes you'll have to make the same choice over and over again. But with God's help and praying for the other person, you'll move on and experience freedom. Forgiving someone isn't for her but for you! Don't get stuck in those ugly feelings and bad attitudes because you are only hurting yourself.

Love your Enemies

Matthew 5:43 "You have heard that is was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

There is no doubt it can be extremely hard to love your enemies. People who have said rude things or done mean things or just aren't nice people. Why in the world would you want to love them? Do they deserve it? Do you "owe" it to them? Probably not BUT does two wrongs make a right? Life is hard and some people have had very tough lives. Some people have never experienced love and forgiveness before so they have no idea. Think about it, if you never experienced love would you know what love is? Would you know how to show it or what it looked like? If you never experienced forgiveness could you forgive someone? Would you know how or what it looked like? If no one ever said to you "Hey no big deal man, it's in the past" but instead said "You owe me for this and that and until you pay me back your life is going to be hell" what would your life be like? How would you treat others? Would you think someone always owed you something? Wouldn't it be wonderful if by showing someone love and forgiveness over and over again even when they didn't deserve it, it helped that person to become a more loving and forgiving person. You changed that person's life because you chose to help the situation instead of keeping the cycle going.

God's word tells us to love our neighbors and our enemies. He says that even pagans love those that love them. To be Christians then we need love those that don't love us. Examples; when someone is rude to you for no reason, don't be rude back, instead be the bigger person and show kindness. Or if someone isn't a team worker at work, help him anyway. When someone does something that isn't right, don't retaliate. Repaying evil for evil won't make our world any better. God's advice is great because if we can follow it, it could lead to world peace and a much more loving and kind world.