The Last Word: Forgiveness

'Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.”

And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.'

Luke 23:34 NLT

Unforgiveness can hurt, build up and ultimately lead to other sin. The thing is though, it often hurts ourselves more that it hurts others. Oftentimes the one we need to forgive doesn't actually know they have done something to hurt us. As humans we choose to take offence at somethings or choose to victimize ourselves in certain situations which in turn causes us pain and hurt... These are instances when we also need to choose to forgive the offender even if it is in our hearts and not personally telling them we forgive them. This pain is like poison to our souls when we have chosen to be offended, but also chosen to not give it to God and move on...

On the flipside, there are very valid reasons to hold onto your forgiveness tightly before you give it away. You may have been hurt to a point that you really don't think you can ever forgive them, that you will never be able to move past what happened to you, and that is a legitimate feeling... but please know dear one, that in time you won't be able to carry that burden by yourself any more. You need to share the load, give it to Jesus and let him begin to just talk to you about the process of healing, of releasing and slowly but surely, eventually forgiving. The longer you hold onto the unforgiveness, the longer you will hurt. Please don't stay in that hurt by yourself.

Then there is also the anger we hold against God himself, we are hurt by some other situation, maybe the death of someone close or something of the likes... You can be angry with God that the unimaginable happened, but talk to Him about it, shout at him if you need to, but He is the only that can heal you of that hurt.

And sometimes we just need to forgive ourselves... This has been the longest and hardest journey for me personally as I continue to grow in my own relationship with God. It takes time, and there is often denial and trying to hide the pain that we have caused ourselves, the shame we feel when we look at ourselves in the mirror. It takes time to start seeing ourselves how God see's us. He has a totally different lens on us, than how we see ourselves. It's called Jesus.

God sees us through the veil of the cross, he sees us through the forgiveness, grace and mercy that were traded for sin and death when Jesus died on the cross in our place. It wasn't just for the time 2000+ years ago, but it is a transaction that is still valid today, so no one is discounted from his grace, love and goodness.

No matter how often we try to clean up our messes, or try to hide, disguise or even ignore the truth. It is there, and it is through repentance, and seeking forgiveness from God that we are truly forgiven. It's God's grace that wipes our slate clean and adds our name to the guestbook of eternity.

And once we have His forgiveness (which you need only ask for, no deeds required, no catches either), then we can learn to forgive ourselves and others... But trust Him and ask Him to help you in the process and journey that it will be to get there. Forgiving yourself and other's likely won't happen over night, (in some cases it might AMEN, let there be supernatural healing and freedom) but trust the process and let Him in, to take the weight of your burden because it's a weight that I am sure you are tired of carrying on your own.

#painting #paintbrushes #canvas #faith #thelastword #church #series #mixedmeida