Forgiveness Nuggets 3
Forgiveness is not the same as pardoning. To pardon is to end all judgment. We think that by forgiving we let people off of the hook and they don’t have to be accountable for what they have done. They need to be accountable for their own sin.
Real love respects people even in the midst of their human frailties. We are all sinners, we all need to forgive and to be forgiven. We must always remember that.
Forgiveness comes through what the Lord Jesus Christ has already accomplished. He has taken that burden from us and through His grace we can forgive. HIS GRACE.
Eph 4:26 (NIV)
Our problem is that we don’t resolve our anger every day, and therefore end up sinning. Unresolved angers, carried day after day, become resentment. Resentments, once ingrained in the heart, become bitterness. Jesus called bitterness a “hardened heart.” It is the root cause of much trouble.
If we do not forgive, we end up with a hard, bitter heart. If you can picture it, you carry the person you refuse to forgive like a heavy weight on your back. Dragging them wherever you go.
In anger we have a choice. We can communicate with those who offended us and forgive them or we can hold on to their sin and walk in unforgiveness, resentment and bitterness.
Luke 17:3-4 (NIV)
3So watch yourselves.
"If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. 4If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, 'I repent,' forgive him."
Our bitterness doesn’t damage anyone but ourselves. Our bitterness wants to take revenge on those who hurt us. After all, if we don’t take revenge, who will? This is a lie from the devil if we believe it is our place. And guess what, it won’t be in our timing, either! “I want them paid back for what they did and I want it NOW!”
Rom 12:19 (NIV)
19Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay,"[a]says the Lord.
Prayer:
Father, please show me where my heart has become hard and bitter. Show me those that I still need to forgive. Help me to have grace to know that I can release them to You and I don’t have to have them chained to me any longer. Forgive me, Lord. Teach me Your ways. Amen!
Lorilie Nelson
Choosing Forgiveness
John & Paula Sandford and Norm Bowman
Copyright © 1996
Clear Stream, Inc. Publishing
Box 122128, Arlington, Texas 76012
Total Forgiveness
R.T. Kendall
Copyright © 2002
Published by Charisma House
A Strang Company
600 Rinehart Road
Lake Mary, Florida 32746
Scripture quoted from:
No comments:
Post a Comment