Forgiveness
"Bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do" ~Colossians 3:13
We have all found ourselves stuck between the paths of hatred and forgiveness. There are many times when the world would tell us that we have "every right" to hate that person for the situation that had been created, but in God's eyes we have no right to hate anyone. Instead we are commanded to forgive them. Now, I'm not saying we need to remain naive and allow a pattern of repeated mistakes and situations destroy our lives, but that we are not to be consumed with the wrongs done against us.
And many times we find ourselves in the moment and can't imagine how we can forgive that person, again, and find a way to trust them, again, and yet we expect that daily to be done for us. We as Christians are called to strive for perfection in our walks with God, however there is no human on this earth who can actually attain that. So as Christians, we daily ask God to forgive us for doing the same stupid thing over and over again. If we expect the Creator of the universe, the one person who has never fallen or made a wrong choice, the only perfect one to forgive us repeatedly, why then should we be expected to do anything less? we all have fallen short. We all have made mistakes and will make mistakes, and while that is nothing at all to be proud of, it should humble us into realizing that we have no place at all to judge another or decide that they don't deserve our forgiveness.
The Bible views all sin as sin. There is no higher or lower degree of sin, that is a mindset that has been put on us by the world we live in. If you are a thief, you get this many years in prison. If you are a murder you get to spend your life there. But what about those who lie? What about the man who passes Victoria's Secret and enjoys the view just a bit too much? Or the woman who's main reason for going to the gym is the guy on the next treadmill? Those are all thing we consider "acceptable" in this society because "everybody does it". But the Bible says that everybody is a sinner and needs Salvation, so saying "everybody" does something or is something is just an excuse to live however we want.
We are in no place to judge another's faults or failings so literally, all we can do is forgive.
It is a very hard path to walk, but we need to remember that Forgiveness forgets the wrongs of the past, and Love Leads others towards God and remains with them in prayer as they travel closer to being the person God intended for them to be.
We have all found ourselves stuck between the paths of hatred and forgiveness. There are many times when the world would tell us that we have "every right" to hate that person for the situation that had been created, but in God's eyes we have no right to hate anyone. Instead we are commanded to forgive them. Now, I'm not saying we need to remain naive and allow a pattern of repeated mistakes and situations destroy our lives, but that we are not to be consumed with the wrongs done against us.
And many times we find ourselves in the moment and can't imagine how we can forgive that person, again, and find a way to trust them, again, and yet we expect that daily to be done for us. We as Christians are called to strive for perfection in our walks with God, however there is no human on this earth who can actually attain that. So as Christians, we daily ask God to forgive us for doing the same stupid thing over and over again. If we expect the Creator of the universe, the one person who has never fallen or made a wrong choice, the only perfect one to forgive us repeatedly, why then should we be expected to do anything less? we all have fallen short. We all have made mistakes and will make mistakes, and while that is nothing at all to be proud of, it should humble us into realizing that we have no place at all to judge another or decide that they don't deserve our forgiveness.
The Bible views all sin as sin. There is no higher or lower degree of sin, that is a mindset that has been put on us by the world we live in. If you are a thief, you get this many years in prison. If you are a murder you get to spend your life there. But what about those who lie? What about the man who passes Victoria's Secret and enjoys the view just a bit too much? Or the woman who's main reason for going to the gym is the guy on the next treadmill? Those are all thing we consider "acceptable" in this society because "everybody does it". But the Bible says that everybody is a sinner and needs Salvation, so saying "everybody" does something or is something is just an excuse to live however we want.
We are in no place to judge another's faults or failings so literally, all we can do is forgive.
It is a very hard path to walk, but we need to remember that Forgiveness forgets the wrongs of the past, and Love Leads others towards God and remains with them in prayer as they travel closer to being the person God intended for them to be.
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