Two Paths to Forgiveness...

 

 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

Colossians 3:15

Scripture

Colossians 3:1-17

Forgiveness is release for the oppressed - it is a freedom which can only be expressed in love and charity. Forgiveness is a hallmark of the Christian faith. To forgive someone who has hurt you, who has wronged you, is hard. At times it can feel as if there is a mountain built out of the reasons for why you cannot forgive the person, but in reality you only need one reason to forgive:

The Lord forgave you.

We, each of us, are only human. We all make mistakes. We all hurt other people - sometimes intentionally, but most of the time unintentionally. Often when someone hurts you, that person is unaware of the deep pain he or she has caused you. You carry around the pain, the hurt, the distrust, but the person who was wrong carries nothing. A big part of the reason why God calls us to forgive each other is for our own peace of mind. Because if our hearts are focused on the pain settled there we have a diminished ability to love.

If we forgive - truly forgive and let a wrong or an anger go - we are free from the core of the pain. Maybe the memory of the action does not fully recede into our minds, but the emotional drain of pain diminishes and the yolk of the burden of anger is lifted.

Forgiveness takes a heart which is fully aligned with God. Forgiveness is not a human condition - it is a divine one. Revenge, an eye for an eye, getting even - these are natural human responses. The supernatural response is to look the person in the eye who has harmed you and honestly tell that person that you forgive him or her.

Poet Oscar Wilde's motivation for forgiveness is a very human one, "Always forgive your enemies - nothing annoys them so much." His brand of forgiveness falls into the revenge is sweet category, but the theologian Lewis B. Smedes had a more divine motivation behind forgiveness. He wrote, "To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you. You will know true forgiveness has begun when you recall those who hurt you and feel the power to wish them well."

Forgiveness is not easy. It is a discipline of the mind and the heart working together to release the chains of the pain which someone else has caused you.

If you are holding on to pain, heartache and hurt how will you ever have room for the blessings God has for you? Forgiveness is simply letting go so that you can open up to receiving more love. Let go ... and let God heal you.

Fun Fact

The acclaimed King Solomon had 700 wives and 300 mistresses or concubines as they were called back then

I'm guessing there was A LOT of forgiveness needed in Solomon's house

Question of the Day

When have you needed forgiveness the most in your life?