The Road Of...Forgiveness

The Road Of Forgiveness.

     Last week I talked about Love. It's easy. It's a warm fuzzy feeling you get, you share it and its simple; but Forgiveness is much more complex. Yes, you have to give it to someone else, just like Love, but it requires a certain level of selflessness and the realization that everyone is sinful and that we all struggle to live up to the moral standards of the Bible.

    Heavenly Father, please help me to be Forgiving so that I don't harbor any harsh feelings toward anyone and that I will give up my anger towards people. I do not want my heart to be consumed by the bitterness that comes with an unforgiving heart. Thank you for your ultimate display of Forgiveness, for our sins, when you sent your Son to die on the cross.


   "Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive."
Colossians 3:13

    This verse doesn't get any clearer. It simply states "so you also must Forgive" not, "if you feel like it and you are having a good day, go ahead and Forgive" No, you don't get to choose to Forgive it is something that has to be done. If you don't, it will eat away at you, causing tension, anger, bitterness, and strife. 

   "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."
Ephesians 4:31-32

   I think this is one of the harder verses to come to grips with, because it is an on going thing. You don't just wake up one day and not be angry with some one. You have to consciously make the choice to not let your flesh take over. You have to ask, through daily prayer, for the Holy Spirits help to take control of your heart attitude. Forgiveness is something that I personally have to battle, and it is a process. 

  I hope that you will take the time to address people in your life, who you haven't fully forgiven. It isn't going to be easy, but it is right. Sometimes the hardest things in life are the adventures that mold us, painfully and change those areas that we wouldn't have been able to change if we were sitting comfortably.