The journal of a lady in love with 3 blue eyed men.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Forgive
I can forgive people. Even when they haven't asked for forgiveness because they haven't realized their actions were hurtful, I can forgive. I am learning that forgiveness is really a one person journey. For a long time I thought that I had to wait for the offender to ask for an apology before I forgave them. I thought the act of forgiveness involved two parties. The giver of the grace, and the recipient. Not so. Forgiveness is up to me, and not contingent upon the actions or admissions of others. Would forgiveness be easier if the person came to me on bended knee and confessed their guilt? Probably. But, Romans says that Christ died for me while I was STILL a sinner. I can forgive before a person asks for it. So, that is what I will do.
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4 comments:
Always hard to do when you feel deeply wronged. But when you do it truly is liberating.
Mike
The ones who do not apologize are defintely the hardest to forgive, but Christ forgave us while we were yet sinners. It doesn't mean we aren't hurt by what they've done to us, we just chose to move past it, not complain about it to others and get on with our lives. And once that's done than we no longer are needing to worry about it and let it consume our thoughts.
Forgivness is hard at times. But, I also try to remember that God has forgiven me for ALL the horrible stuff I have done. Why, can't I forgive others who are human just like me?! It is still a lesson I am learning!
I have always been pretty quick to forgive throughout my life.. However, there was one particular instance where I hung onto my hurt for too long. It affected the relationships around me, how I viewed every single day and ultimately my health. I carried my bitterness around for months like a sack of bricks. Now I look back... what an idiot, I was only hurting myself! Like Mike said, forgiveness is liberating! It is one thing that you ultimately have control of. I could go on forever on this subject because I lived through some of the worst months of my life because I and only I was reluctant to forgive. Good post Bethany!
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