Forgiveness

I wanted to write about something that I’m in need of help with, in hopes that while writing and reading this, God might show me how to forgive. And not just to forgive others, but to also forgive myself. I’m not a saint, nor am I a flat out sinner anymore. I’ve come before God and asked for forgiveness, and patience, while I go through these trials and tribulations in my life. I will warn you, I may go off on a tangent every once in awhile. And other than an open heart and a sincere intent, I’m no preacher. Just take what I write with a grain of salt, treat it like one of Aesop’s Fables, a story with a moral at the end when I do.

Now, me being me, I went to look up verses with the words, forgive, and forgiveness, and the one that stuck out to me first is,

Psalms 32:1-6, “ 1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin discovered. 2 Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. 3 When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. 4 For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah. 5 I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah. 6 For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.”

Being honest with God, that’s the first thing. I’ve had problems with this. I still have problems with this from time to time. We have all done things that, when we look back upon them, we’re not so proud of what it was that we had done. And I’m sure that none of us wants to really admit to God what we have done. But, in prayer, we should seek him out, saying, “Father… I’ve made a doozy of a mistake today…” Telling him what we have done, and how we have rectified the situation. I don’t believe we’re truly forgiven unless we have tried to fix whatever it is that we've done. Although for some of us, the time to fix the wrong may be long past… God knows when you’re sincere. If he knows that there is nothing to be done about whatever it is that’s happened in the past, I believe he acknowledges the intent.

For the next few verses, Matthew 6:14-15 “14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Forgiving others… It’s hard. And I’m sure all of us have had those moments where, someone has done us wrong in the past and we have held it against them. But those verses right there show what God’s plan for us is, if we don’t forgive others. It’s not pretty. But for the sake of all of us, I really think we should try. Even to our worst enemies. God will know that we have forgiven them, and that we have gone and moved on from that point.

I would like to leave you all with a prayer, wishing for peace and happiness in your life, that we might all find it in our hearts, not just to forgive one another, but ourselves as well, In Christ's name, Amen.