"And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world's healing hinges, but on God's. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself." Corrie Ten Boom
As I sit at my laptop and write this article, every story from the medium in the world is announcing the death of Usama Bin Laden. Individuals in America are dancing in the streets, are using their cell phones dialing into talk shows and posting on Facebook to show their pleasure the supposedly king of terror has been killed. Someone just said that now that Usama Bin Laden is no longer alive, the kin of the victims on 9/11 can now be at rest. Really? His dying has the power to finally change their tormented hearts into one of at rest, at peace and an acceptance of what happened? Don't misunderstand me, I believe it is critical that justice be served when at all possible. Nonetheless when one has been awfully maltreated, perhaps to the point of their very life being wrecked, what real power, other than consolation, does justice have to heal those broken hearts and reconstruct their broken lives?
Corrie Ten Boom, the woman responsible for the quote above, went through phenomenal torturer and pain by the hands of the Nazi’s during World War II. Corrie was a single woman who resided with her sister and elderly dad in Amsterdam at the time when the Nazi's rose to being and began their conquest of Europe, eliminating millions of Jewish people in their conquest. Ms. Corrie Ten Boom’s relatives was responsible for saving the lives of about 800 Jewish people, destined for death by the German Nazi”s.
Corrie's dad was a craftsman watchmaker and Corrie and Betsy who was her sister took care of the family place of business in the little town of Haarlem. Until one day, they, along with other family, were harshly snatched from their very own home and sent to different concentration camps. It was in those concentration camps that her dad, sister, a brother and her nephew all were killed. From a human perspective, it makes almost no sense at all . Yet, there is no larger power to allow us to release ourselves from the discomfort, inflicted by another, than to forgive the person that caused it.
Not to forgive can be destructive and can have devastating results. It's like hate that smolders in your heart and smothers your very soul. It is so insidious that one is sometimes not aware of the damage it does, till it is too late.
Unforgiving folks live as victims and think they are justified in doing so. They are regularly obsessive about the wrong done to them and are fast to point out to anyone that will listen that nobody has any idea how much they have suffered or how much they have been hurt by the hands of someone else. They are right, most people can't nor will they ever truly know the pain of another, yet what is the advantage of staying in that misery and making an attempt to draw others into it along with them? How can that be healing?
Unforgiving folks manifest signs that should alert them to the damage occurring to their very souls as they live out their unforgiving lives. They are fast to claim rights. They are also terribly attuned to any wrongs done to them, without reference to how small it is. They are obsessive about the bad things that have occurred to them in the past and are absolutely sure no one’s life was as rotten theirs were. They enjoy their agony appears to give them over friends and foes alike, as they seek to want pity and understanding. They are oblivious to the pain their not forgiving causes on others not grasping or caring that staying on their agony only serves to make everybody else around them miserable. Briefly unforgiving folks are some of the most unhappy folks in the world.
Hence if not forgiving is an issue for you, what should you do about your lack of forgiving? The very first thing is to recognize that God Himself has given the offer of complete forgiveness to you, should you decide to receive it. You His unconditional forgiveness by believing in His Son Jesus Christ and confessing that He is Lord and then asking for your Heavenly Father’s forgiveness. The Bible asserts we are all sinners and in need of God’s forgiveness so that we could be reconciled to Him.
Once you receive the forgiveness of your sins, God’s Word shows us that you receive the power of Almighty God, through His Holy Spirit now living in you, to do the things He requests you to do, like forgive others no matter how terrible the hurt or pain. It doesn't mean you reject the incorrect doing or the discomfort it caused or that you try and excuse it or justify it in any way. It would be wrong not to recognize and acknowledge something terribly hurtful and inexcusable was done to you and that it should never have occurred. It might also decrease the power of forgiving to allow healing to a damaged heart and a devastated soul.
How To Forgive Someone
To discover more about pursing a relationship with God and experiencing His love that will that will lead you to a life of freedom click on: Living Life Set Free
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