Forgiveness

I've been thinking about forgiveness for some time.  Last week a friend sent me a text asking if I could write about it.  I started this post over two months ago, and I never completed it.  Her text prompted me to finish.  Thanks, Lisa.

Websters Dictionary defines forgiveness as:  To give up resentment of or claim to requital for; to grant release from payment; to cease to feel resentment against.

Unforgiveness gives seed and root to bitterness and anger.  Bitterness and anger are like a cancer to our minds.  They multiply, get harder to combat if we don't address them, and infect any new relationship that comes along.  I know, from personal experience, I have brought in bitterness or anger into new relationships without realizing it.  Looking back, I can see why certain relationships failed.  Hopefully, this will help me in the future.  

I'm not a doctor, and I don't play one on TV.  However, I have read many studies and articles on the effects of forgiveness/unforgiveness.  There are lots of studies that show the effects of unforgiveness are detrimental to our physical health.  

The Mayo Clinic lists these as some of the benefits of forgiveness:

• Healthier relationships
• Greater spiritual and psychological well-being
• Less anxiety, stress and hostility
• Lower blood pressure
• Fewer symptoms of depression
• Lower risk of alcohol and substance abuse

For me, that last one includes "food abuse" since that seems to be my substance of choice when I am needing emotional numbing.  But that's another post. click here to read.

What does God say about forgiving?

Forgiveness is an act of faith out of obedience to God.  It is not admitting the other person is not at fault, but releasing that person from having control in your life and body.  

Many times, the person we need to forgive is someone who doesn't even know they have wronged us.  I have LOTS of experience here.  For me, many of the people I need to forgive have really not even done anything wrong "to me", but it is a perceived wrong and I harbor resentment and unforgiveness.  This is not the way that God would have us walk.  

In other circumstances, forgiveness is much harder because it is a very real and known fault against someone, or even a recurring sin.  Jesus told an amazing parable about forgiving.  Matthew 18:21-22 - Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.

Ouch!  7 times 70?  Really God?  He goes on after telling Peter to keep forgiving, again and again, to tell the story of the unforgiving servant.  The servant was forgiven much, but could not extend that same mercy to another person who owed him.  He was then jailed until his debt was repaid.  How many times are we holding on to someone else's debt instead of forgiving as God has forgiven us of such great debt?  

There is so much information in the Word about forgiveness.  If God chose to talk about it and give so many examples of it, isn't a good idea to take a look at our own lives and decide to forgive and let go of the hurts against us?  Here are a few scriptures on the subject.  There are many more, so I encourage you to look them up and read them.

Ephesians 4:32 - Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Colossians 3:13 - bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

Mark 11:25 - And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.

Father, I repent for holding on to unforgiveness, resentment, bitterness and anger.  I release those things to you, I place them at your feet.  I ask for your forgiveness as I start anew.  I pray that you would bless those who hurt me, and lead them closer to you.  I ask that you would shine a light in my own heart in areas where I have hurt others, and I ask for forgiveness in those areas.  Father, let us be a beacon of your great love to all.  Help us to let go of hurts and to focus on the forgiveness you have extended to us.  I love you, Father!  In Jesus Name, Amen!

Love and Mercy

Love and Mercy go hand in hand.  You can't have love without mercy, and you certainly cannot have mercy without God's love working in you.  John 3:16 is the ultimate display of mercy - For God so LOVED us (the world) that He gave his only son, that whoever would believe in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (Mercy). 

Every day I pray over my children, that they would walk in mercy and love mercy.  Micah 6:8  Mercy is undeserved forgiveness, and Grace is undeserved favor.  I pray that my children will walk in forgiveness and give it to everyone, even those who don't "deserve" it.  After all, isn't that what God did for us through Christ?  Ephesians 4:32

I pray these things over my children, but shouldn't I really be praying them and practicing them for myself?  Aren't love and mercy the easiest way to show others the work of Christ in our lives.  We don't need to scream it out, but instead, live it out.  Sometimes living a life in Christ speaks a lot louder than our words ever could.  Because of Christ going to the cross, we don't get what we deserve, instead, we get mercy; undeserved forgiveness.  The greatest example of living out loud, more than speaking out loud was the work of the cross.  

This is my prayer for all of us:  Father God, let us be examples of your love and mercy everywhere we go.  Help us to wear our mercy where others can see it and touch it, and most importantly, experience the profound mercy of Christ in us.  Thank you, Father, that your mercies are new every morning.  Let that mercy work in us so that we can have new mercy every morning toward everyone we come in contact with.  Let us be a light and to shine your love and mercy as a beacon on a hill where people go to find refuge.  Allow us, God, to serve you by loving everyone and walking in mercy.  In Jesus Name, Amen!