Tues.’s Devo - Forgiveness

Read Luke 11:4a Forgiveness is such a heavy topic. Jesus tells us to pray that our sins are forgiven. Then he assumes that we will forgive everyone who is indebted to us first. God always sides on the one who needs justice. To not forgive someone is to have pride. Do we believe that we have a right not to forgive? If Jesus could forgive the very ones who mocked him and persecuted him and finally gave him over to their enemies to crucify him, then there is no one we cannot forgive. Jesus came to forgive sins. We might think we can’t forgive, but Jesus in us can. We can’t afford to walk in unforgiveness. It will rob us of our very life and cause us great complications in our physical body and in our spirit. In Matthew’s writing of the “Lord’s Prayer” (Matt. 6:14.15) he adds “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. That is enough to make us want to forgive everyone. But what do you do if you can’t seem to forgive someone? We have all had those people in our lives who offend us to the core. I had a person in my life that I couldn’t hardly stand to be in the same room with because they had hurt me so bad but I hated what it did to me and truly wanted to be able to forgive them. I finally asked God to help me forgive and give me his heart for her. It took praying that over and over until one day it was totally gone! I now love that person and see her in God’s eyes. It is so freeing! To withhold forgiveness is to hold ourselves in a prison. It hurts the other person if they know it but if they don’t then it only hurts ourselves. The best analogy I have heard is this: holding an offense is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. It robs us of our relationship with God and other people and eventually causes bitterness. Lord, help us to forgive those who have hurt us or used us. Help the people we have offended to forgive us. Thank you for your forgiveness!