Choosing to Forgive

This morning in our Bible study with the boys, we were talking about forgiveness.  Since the boys are getting older I am able to share more of the things that the Lord has brought me through by His grace.  I think that is so very powerful.  I know that I love to hear what the Lord does in the lives of His people.  Having not grown up in a Christian home, I can only imagine how powerful it would be to see your parents seek Jesus. 

So today, I shared an experience with my boys that sometimes I still struggle with.  Very personal.  Very real.  Yet at the same time, God, who is rich in mercy...continues to heal my heart even now.

Our verse was "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another just as God in Christ forgave you."  Ephesians 4:32

We talked through this verse, reading it and rereading it.  Then as we were closing in prayer, the Lord blessed my soul with this.

For us to give forgiveness to others who have wronged us or hurt us doesn't require us to die on a cross.  It just requires us to trust God.

This is so powerful to me.  I hope it blesses your heart as well.  Honestly.  When we forgive, all we have to do is trust the Lord for the outcome. Forgiveness is a command.  We are told to forgive.  It is not strongly suggested that we forgive others.  We are told: forgive, just as in Christ God forgave you.

God's forgiveness towards us is perfect and cleansing.  Because not only does He forgive us, He removes our sins.  He forgives the depths of our sinfulness for His glory...because of Christ's accomplishment on Calvary.

Christ laid His life down.  He endured the Cross.  Crucifixion.  For the sake of our souls.

When God says forgive...He knows it won't be easy.  Forgiveness isn't easy...I think forgiveness is a refining process for believers, at least in my life it is.   Yet when you think on the Cross, and what Jesus did, certainly "easy" is not a word that would describe it. 


I must choose to forgive, and sometimes I have to choose it repeatedly.  It's a matter of obedience.  Sometimes you'll have a dear friend come to you in crisis....going through a trial that you've been through...God brought you through it, so that He could use you for His glory.  Many times over the years, I've been able to minister and encourage dear sisters in Christ through trials that the Lord has brought me through already.  It's all for His glory.  He allowed things in my life so that I would testify to His goodness and help others through the same issue.  Sometimes those trials bring back old hurt, past pain.  I've forgiven the one who hurt me or broke my trust, but when confronted with someone who is fresh in the midst of the same pain I went through, often that pain is revived in my own life.

It's in those moments that I must again choose forgiveness. I choose to trust that God's word is right and true and His command to forgive is absolutely without doubt for my own good.

Forgiving someone often has very little to do with that other person.  It's simply about having your heart right before the Lord.  Obeying His command to forgive others.  Refusing to forgive doesn't usually hurt the other person.  It hurts you.  The bitterness and anger harbored in your heart debilitates you, not the one who did wrong to you.

Choosing to trust God that when I extend forgiveness as He commands me to, believing that He will work out all the details for my own good.  Remember, we are being conformed to the image of His own Son.

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers."  Romans 8:28-29


My soul is blessed by the simplicity of His truth.


Obey.


Forgive.


Trust.