What should I forgive? Short answer: any offenses.
None of us is beyond God's mercy, so noone should be beyond ours.
So do we forgive someone who steals from us?
Someone who rapes?
Someone who harms our children?
Compared to those the everyday offenses of forgetting to do the laundry, leaving the gas tank empty or spreading rumors seem tame.
God says:
We need to let God handle things and give us perspective. Take gossip. Someone says something unkind and spreads it around. Stand before God. Realize the things you have done and what this person could really have said about you. What they are saying becomes small by comparison.Practice in the small things, so that if you ever face a tougher situation, you'll be ready.
Trust God that he knows how to help you and that he will. After all, he forgave his murderers.
Some more reading:
Forgiving Little Things
Forgiving a Rapist
Forgiving a Murderer (When it's your son)
On this one-year anniversary of the kidnapping of the scbool girls from Chibok, Nigeria here are statements of forgiveness in unimaginably hard situations.
Forgive them, say girls who escaped Boko Haram
Nigeria: Did You Forgive?
What examples of forgiveness have you seen?
Previous posts in this series: Forgiveness Thoughts and Quotes, Forgiveness - Definition, Forgiveness: The Who of It.
This is my 13th post for the April 2015 Ultimate Blog Challenge.
None of us is beyond God's mercy, so noone should be beyond ours.
So do we forgive someone who steals from us?
Someone who rapes?
Someone who harms our children?
Compared to those the everyday offenses of forgetting to do the laundry, leaving the gas tank empty or spreading rumors seem tame.
God says:
Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12: 17-21)
We need to let God handle things and give us perspective. Take gossip. Someone says something unkind and spreads it around. Stand before God. Realize the things you have done and what this person could really have said about you. What they are saying becomes small by comparison.Practice in the small things, so that if you ever face a tougher situation, you'll be ready.
Trust God that he knows how to help you and that he will. After all, he forgave his murderers.
Some more reading:
Forgiving Little Things
Forgiving a Rapist
Forgiving a Murderer (When it's your son)
On this one-year anniversary of the kidnapping of the scbool girls from Chibok, Nigeria here are statements of forgiveness in unimaginably hard situations.
Forgive them, say girls who escaped Boko Haram
Nigeria: Did You Forgive?
What examples of forgiveness have you seen?
Previous posts in this series: Forgiveness Thoughts and Quotes, Forgiveness - Definition, Forgiveness: The Who of It.
This is my 13th post for the April 2015 Ultimate Blog Challenge.
The only person whom I need to let handle things is myself... and I don't need to forgive people who seriously wrong me. Case in point... my ex-father who is a horrible person and hits his wife. I was living with them for about 2 months and because my ex-father thinks that his word is the law and I wasn't having it, he decided he wanted to act like "a man" and hit me. Let's bear in mind I'm a 35 year old woman. I moved out the next day and I will never forgive him. I have since blocked him from calling me, emailing me and facebook and I look forward to never speaking to him ever again and never forgiving him.
ReplyDeleteI am having difficulty knowing what to say.
DeleteI am sorry for what you have gone through. I can't imagine. Good for you for leaving that situation. Even keeping away from him. Obviously we have different understandings of God. Forgiveness isn't for your abusers sake, though. It's for yours.
Also, as I reread this post, I realize that my tone is rather didatic. It is not for me to be telling anyone what they need to do, even if I include myself in as in "we need to." I am sorry.
DeleteI went through counseling through my church several years ago for having been raped. Forgiveness came up and one thing that came up is that people often talk about forgiveness right after an incident has happened, as though it should be done easily and quickly. In reality, forgiveness may take years and years and that is okay.
ReplyDeleteTrue, it's not easy .. or quick.
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