FORGIVENESS

FORGIVENESS

Matthew 6:14-15 declares: “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15) But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your heavenly Father forgive your trespasses.”

And in Matthew 18: 21-22 we read the conversation between Jesus and Peter when Peter asks Jesus how many times a person should forgive an offender: “Then came Peter to him (Jesus), and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times? 22) Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.” In other words, we forgive, and forgive, and then we forgive some more. We do not stop forgiving no matter how many times people have repeatedly offended us. 

Let me give you an example from my own life...

I had a very unpleasant encounter with someone, again. Harsh words assailed me as the person verbally lashed out. I was dismayed at the sudden outburst. My mind raced as I quickly reviewed all that had transpired between that person and I in the previous few minutes. I couldn’t think of anything that I had done or said that would have spurred such an irrational response. I tried to ask what I had done wrong and my questions didn’t receive insightful answers but rather another torrent of derogatory verbiage. So, I excused myself and left.

This person was a repeat verbal offender in my life. And every time previously, I will admit, I had given in to a mindset of “oh poor me!!” So, here I was in this situation again. I was very confused and quite devastated. I had a smorgasbord of thoughts and emotions running through me. I felt like crying. My soul was deeply wounded. But, recently God had been working on me concerning my reactions to negative people and situations.

I had two options:

OPTION #1. Let the negative situation ruin the rest of my day.

OR

OPTION #2. Give the situation to Daddy God and go on with my day, cheerfully; focusing on accomplishing the tasks I knew that God wanted me to get done.

I chose option #2. I will do my best to explain why I chose #2 and what happened after that decision.

The devil hates people and, in that situation, I was a target and the enemy was using the other person to wound or sideline me. This other person, by the way, fit into the category of friends and family. Satan eagerly uses friends and family because the conflict wounds tend to go deeper than if the harsh words had come from a stranger.  

Even fellow Christians can be used by the enemy to speak malicious and venomous words. On that same coin, Satan can also use Christians to speak seemingly innocent words that are actually directly from the pit of hell. I think of Mathew chapter 16 when Jesus told His disciples that He must die. Peter was upset to hear that his Lord and friend would die and in verse 22 we read that Peter says: “Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.” In response, Jesus rebuked his disciple Peter, and said: “Get thee behind me, Satan.” In this instance, what Peter said was a seemingly innocent declaration. However, it was not in alignment with God’s will and plan. Satan can be sneaky when he tries to mess with us. We need to be careful what words we accept into our lives.

Back to what I was saying about my situation. I decided I wasn’t gonna let the devil score any points against me. I, for sure, wasn’t gonna let him ruin the rest of my day. I wasn’t gonna let him keep me distracted with that encounter and hinder me from getting my afternoon agenda accomplished. And I wasn’t gonna let him also use me to reciprocate nastiness back at the person.

I had a bit of “think time” trying to sort out what I was gonna do about this mess. I thought about what the bible says in Matthew 25:40, that what we do to one another we also do to Jesus. And then there are the two verses on forgiveness that I shared in the beginning of this blog. Bearing all that in mind, I forgave the person. That wasn’t easy. I had to ask God to help me with that. And, I totally gave the situation to Jesus and told him that I was now out of the equation and whatever else transpired was between Him and that other person.

I spent a few minutes praying for that person, because a person is not operating on a hair trigger with a dynamite explosion unless they have something going on in their life that needs fixing and healing.

I then began to praise God and thank Him for everything I could think of in that moment to thank Him for. It was more than I thought! The more I praised and thanked Him the more thankfulness just kept coming until I was bubbling with gladness. I went about my day with joy in my heart and pep in my step.

That person never did apologize to me but I continued to pray for them. Sometime later, down the road of life, I began to see amazing changes in that person’s life.  They are a very different person today than they were for so many years in their past. Something did happen between that person and Jesus.

I made the right choice, and kept negative backlash from me out of way and let Jesus accomplish His will in me and also that person’s life. If I had made the wrong choice and demanded an apology or had chosen to retaliate in some way I would have once again hindered the process of myself growing and also interfered in what Daddy God wanted to do in that person’s life though that situation.  Positive attitude and prayer turned things right side up and today I have a wonderful relationship with that person!