“Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.”
This verse opened me eyes and hit me pretty hard. Forgiveness isn’t the easiest thing. It is easy to say that you forgive someone, but do you really mean it? True forgiveness is when you wish only good for that person and love them as you do yourself. Forgiveness doesn’t mean that what they did was right, but that you moved on from it and it’s in the past. Even though when you forgive someone and you put it in the past it can also mean remembering.
The part of this verse that really hits me is forgive one another, as God in Christ forgave you. God forgives us out of free will. When he forgives us he never holds that against us.
It got me thinking, when I say that I forgive others do I fully forgive them? Most the time my answer is no. It’s hard for me to want the best for them and no evil when they did something to hurt me.
Forgiveness for me takes time. It wouldn’t mean anything if I just forgave everyone right away. Would I actually mean it if I did? Personally I don’t think so. Sometimes it has even taken me a few months to forgive someone.
This verse put forgiveness for me in a whole new perspective. I think about, what if God didn’t forgive me? I would never be set free. Sometimes I think that by forgiving others you are also setting yourself free.
No comments:
Post a Comment