King Louis XII once said, “Nothing smells so sweet as the dead body of your enemy.”
Aaaah yeah. Nice philosophy. For him maybe, but I do not prefer to live my life that way. I hope it doesn’t take the dead body of someone who hurt you to realize he is missing the mark.
Contrast that philosophy to the words of Jesus and I believe you will find two opposite views.
“And forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors.” Matthew 6:12
“Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” Luke 23:34
Or how about one of the biggest lessons in forgiveness He ever taught (other than when He was on the cross) found in Matthew 18:21-35? You probably know the story. Peter asks how often we should forgive, up to seven times? He was, in all honesty, being magnanimous. Three was the limit in Jewish thought.
“Not seven but seventy times seven.”
Really? Are you kidding me?
Then He tells a story of a man who owed a debt he could not pay only to have it forgiven, He then went out and found a fellow servant who owed him a mere pittance and threw him in jail. Enough of that nonsense! The king turned around and through his behind in jail.
It is not easy to forgive…I don’t care who you are. Keeping resentment, hurt, bitterness, and all the accompanying consequences under wraps is impossible. They will come back to haunt.
This Sunday I will be preaching on Matthew 18 and the subject of forgiveness. I ask for your prayers and deeply appreciate them.
Meanwhile, how are you on forgiveness?
I have a tough time separating lack of forgiveness for someone with long lingering feelings of the situation. Sometimes, even with the separation of time, the feelings still remain so vivid. My mind just won’t let go of things. That is also part of who I am and why I am so successful at what I do in my career. I hold onto everything.
I will be praying for you tomorrow during my devotional time.
Everyone processes things differently Daniel. Your mind works differently than mine for sure. I do appreciate your prayers for me.
I struggle with it, Bill.
But I am thankful that the Lord does not struggle with it. He has no problem forgiving His enemies (us)…even as we struggle showing that same kind of love to our family, and friends, and co-workers…let alone our enemies.
Thanks for your honesty Stephen. But you are also right on the money with being thankful Jesus does not.
I believe in the freeing of oneself with the power of forgiveness. If you do it right once is enough.
If…which is not always easy for some.
I do well with forgiving. I mean, I’m great at saying “I forgive you.” It’s the trust afterward that gives me problems. Oh, and the forgetting is a big struggle too.
I think we can forgive but not necessarily forgive. That is whole ‘nother story. 🙂 But it is important to say “I forgive you.”
I’m pretty good at forgiving others, it costs me too much energy to stay mad at someone. The nice thing about forgiveness is, since we rarely forget how we’ve been wronged, the anger we might have had if we didn’t let go doesn’t grab hold of us the way it might if we held on to those hurts.
Having said that, I really struggle with forgiving myself …
You are right about the energy it requires to maintain anger toward someone. If people only knew I think they might be more apt to forgive or at least make the attempt. And yeah, forgiving ourselves is a tough one sometimes.
I like to think I’ve got it nailed. After all I forgave the cult leader of my youth. But I still struggle everyday.
Isn’t that ironic?
Forgiveness is what my second session is about at the Ladies REtreat. A wise heart will be a forgiving heart. Interest in the response from everyone. Like all things God ask us to do,it is hard but worth it. All I can vouch for is this very moment as I type this, I am living in forgiveness.
No better place to live Betty.
It’s hard, but when I do, forgetting is even harder.
I’m not sure we ever forget.
It’s one thing to love and forgive our family and friends.
Try it with your enemies…as Jesus did.
I fail…
Absolutely Stephen. What an incredible example He set…and knows I will fail in doing the same.
Hi Bill! I hope your sermon went well. I’m sure it did!
Forgiveness seems to come faster now that I’m older. Seems like I had a very healthy case of self-righteousness, and I have been trying to dial that back a little. My sense of fairness is wounded when I am disrespected in some way, and I think that acts as a barrier for unity.
I know I’ll struggle with that all my life…but I do think I’m getting a wee bit better? I hope so anyway.
Blessings,
Ceil
Hi Ceil! I really can’t tell you how the sermon went. I am a lousy judge of myself and my preaching. I let others tell me how bad it is. 😛 I found as I got older, less bothers me and I realize I need to forgive and let things go. I’m too old to be carrying around excess garbage. Thanks for the comment.
Hope you had a nice Sunday Bill. For some reason earlier in the month I had something against my brother and I coldn’t figure out what or why. I knew I had to forgive him though, but I was really hard headed/hearted about it. Until I realized that it was changing my attitude and love I had toward him. Thank God I realized my error at just being mad at him for no reason, because it was already boiling over, lol. I just prayed “Lord help me forgive him, because I know not what I do.” After that I really felt the Holy Spirit move. I ended up forgiving him right on the spot.
We had a great Sunday Ed. Far better than I thought we would. Glad to hear about your change of attitude. That is so essential to knowing God’s peace.
It’s amazing how many people who hold grudges against brothers and sisters in Christ. I think if we would all look at ourselves as the flawed creatures we are, it might be easier to accept and forgive the short comings of others.
It is amazing and sad Mike. Lots of work never gets done as a result. Lots of barriers do.