Forgiveness

Do I Really Need To?
Forgiveness is not simply a one-time event. I was in a situation where I was hurt and at one point I did forgive them. However, reminders of what had happened kept coming up and because I did not choose to forgive each time I was reminded of the person/event bitterness started creeping in. Without even realizing it I had started to harbor resentment and it inevitably affected every area of my life. Some situations/people bring deep hurt in your life, but my challenge to you is to ask God if this is an area you need help in.

Forgiveness and repentance are both things that should be practiced daily, yet I must admit that there have been many days in my life when I have practiced neither. Forgiveness and repentance are both gifts granted by God. Seek Christ for the strength to do both.

A Little Clarification
To add as a note of clarification; to forgive someone does not mean you have to trust him or her again. It would be absolute foolishness to trust some people again after knowing there past actions towards you. Yet it is necessary to forgive and many times this is something that is just between you and God.

God’s Word
Colossians 3:12-13
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive.

Mark 11:25
And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.

Ephesians 4:31-32
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Matthew 18:21-22
Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times? Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.

Hebrews 12:14
Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.