- First off, I’ll say that this is a 2nd draft. I had written 2 other facts and when I got to # 3, I realized it was such an in-depth and important subject, that it deserved its own post. I learned today that someone I know received a diagnosis of cancer with a poor prognosis. Bad, right? Well, the other side of this story is that this person is guilty of doing terrible things to someone I love. When I say terrible things, I mean things that would cause you to either hate a person or sweep the events into the back of your mind so you can escape the fact that you can’t possibly fathom forgiving them. This is my guilt. This is my dilemma.
- When I first became a Christian I learned all the awesome stuff, like Jesus loves me and died for me. Then I learned the hard stuff, like taking on characteristics that favored Christ. Forgiveness. No problem. Lord, I forgive that man who just cut me off in traffic! I’m a super Christian! Yeah, right. Then you realize that true forgiveness is hard,and that’s when you can truly appreciate how wonderful God’s gift of forgiveness of our sins is. When I first learned that forgiveness could further my relationship with God, I had the perfect test case. My biological father had left me. He had taken off, taken all the $, and actually left me to play alone on the streets of L.A. when he jetted to the bank. He stole from my piggy bank. He lied to me repeatedly. He hurt my Mom. But I think what hurt most was that he had no problem signing over his parental rights when my Dad adopted me. It was for the best and I love my Daddy, but I felt rejected that my biological father could give me up so easily. It took a year from the time I decided to forgive him, until the time I felt like I actually had and could contact him and tell him so. Forgiveness is hard. But after it was done, I felt free. I felt a weight lifted.
- With the incident I mentioned in # 1, I’ve purposely ignored my obligation to forgive. I’ve swept it under a rug of anger. Today, addressed with this person’s mortality, I felt the issue brought to the forefront of my mind. I made a difficult decision. I decided to pray for this person. I prayed that God would use this illness to draw the person into a relationship with Him. I prayed for healing that could cultivate that relationship. I reflected on God’s character and remembered that despite the horrible actions, this person was a child of God. God loves that person and is saddened, but never stops loving them. I realized that as I prayed for this person and reflected on how God saw them; God brought that forgiveness to my heart. It wasn’t something that I did, but something God did in me. And there’s peace in that. I encourage you to seek forgiveness, even when it’s hard. Perhaps someone needs to forgive you. When we can’t, God can.
That is all 🙂