The forgiven. It’s amazing to be forgiven. Where once your heart was crushed under the weight of your wrong doing, you are now free to breathe again. But are you? Are you living in that freedom? Breathing without difficulty? Is your mind free from the slander of your conscience? Or, are you still beating yourself up over it? If you are a religious person, are you playing God? Judging and convicting yourself over and over again? Telling yourself that you are too far gone for God to pardon you. Thinking that your sin is greater than God could possibly handle. Sounds crazy, right? In your forgiveness, it’s possible that you are sinning….again. It is important that we remember that we have wronged. But sometimes people get confused as to the reason that God has given us this ability. He didn’t give it to us so that we should grow to hate ourselves forever. We should be reminded that no matter what we do, he can forgive us! It’s not about us(how awful we are), it’s about him(how wonderful he is)! So truly be forgiven and accept that gift.
The forgiver. It’s soul crushing sometimes, when we are hurt by others. Especially from those we love. Does it help when they ask for forgiveness? Maybe. But it’s just words, right? It takes a long time for us to believe someone is truly sorry. That’s because actions speak louder than words. We have no control over them. We lose trust and are afraid to expose ourselves to them again. We may hold back a part of ourselves and grow callous to them. Sometimes we may even punish them silently while planning a payback that we justify. Have we truly forgiven them? This situation is sticky. Shouldn’t we be able to pay them back for what they did? If you are in this boat, remember, you are doing to them exactly what they did to you. And yes, it may be justified according to the world but God said vengeance is his. So guess what, sin creeps in very easily. It’s in these situations that it’s good to remember the times that God has forgiven us! He has not paid us back for the many things we have done, though we surely deserved it. So forgive as he has forgiven. It’s hard, I know. But it’s so much more freeing when we aren’t trying to be the judge. That job is a difficult job and we aren’t equipped to call those shots.
