Revisiting Forgiveness

Well, back in November of 2007, I wrote a piece on forgiveness and here I am writing about it again. Why, you ask? Because I find myself in the position of resisting forgiveness more than I have in a long time.



I wrote back then about forgiving mostly people that I didn't know or care about. However, I am finding that it's when people you love deeply hurt you that you are truly tested in your ability and willingness to forgive. Forgiving seems a lot easier when it's abstract.



Ah, but the Lord never said it would be easy to forgive, now did He? He also didn't say to only forgive those that don't know any better or those who aren't Christians. He said to forgive everyone.



The people who don't know Jesus completely get a "glazed over" look when you talk about forgiveness. They act like you're crazy to forgive someone for hurting you so badly. They want you to punch the person or slash their tires or something. Heard any good Carrie Underwood songs lately? Actually, if you've heard any amount of Country/Western songs, they seem to have a high proportion of revenge songs!



I guess it's times like these when I have to really look at all that I have been forgiven for. There are so many times I have let God down. So many times I've disappointed Him. He forgives me every time. He forgave me before I was born!!! Now, that's forgiveness. Wow.



It may take me a while to get to a place of total forgiveness for the hurts I've been through, but I am working every day to become a more forgiving person. I may not become all that I want to be in this area until Jesus comes back for me, but I'm certainly going to ask Him to help me to get as close as possible to this goal. It may not make a difference to the people who have hurt me, but it can only make me a happier, healthier person. That will make a difference to people I come into contact with.



Isn't that what matters most? Showing Jesus to a world who doesn't understand Him?