Luke 6:27-28 "But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you." NIV
This week sweetheart is in Rio for business. He was able to go to the Christ the Redeemer statue that is located there. He sent me this picture which brought such peace to my soul today. It is how I know my Lord will look when He comes again, arms outstretched to take us in, with the glowing light of heaven behind Him.
In church today, Pastor Kerry www.kerryshook.org talked about the power of forgiveness. Each of us carries with us a list of painful events from our past. The desire to blame and carry anger towards the people we feel have wronged us holds us back from rich blessings that God has for us. Some of us spend our lives collecting grievances. We send out shallow forgiveness like a shower of confetti. But deep in our hearts, we are still angry and bitter. It is a burden we are commanded not to carry.
Jesus told His disciples that each day we should pray the Lord's Prayer which includes "forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. " Luke 11:4 NIV He didn't say that we should forgive some people, that we should forgive only other Christians, that we should forgive just the people that we like. He said we should forgive EVERYONE. Even those that we don't like and who don't like us.
For many years, I was consumed with anger and bitterness for the things I felt had been done by others that changed my life in ways I couldn't control. I raged constantly at God and man for the "unfairness" of it all. In Luke 17:4 Christ tells Peter that "if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, 'I repent,' forgive him." NIV But for me, I was angry because those who had hurt me never said they were sorry. They never asked my forgiveness. So I justified my anger at them. What I didn't realize was that my lack of forgiveness only effected me.
There is power in forgiving someone, especially if you do it while praying for them. Oh how hard that was for me to accept. Not only should I forgive them for whatever they did or didn't do, I am called in the gospel of Luke to pray for those who have mistreated me. Trust me when I say there were days when I prayed a lot. Trust me even more when I say it was hard not to let my prayers slip into asking God to be mad at them like I was.
Now that I have come to know Christ as my Savior and He has shown me God's love in all it's wondrous beautiful encompassing glory, I realize that forgiving them was not for them. It was for me. Because until I breathed out forgiveness, I couldn't breath in Grace.
I heard a song today from my most favorite christian singer Sarah Kelly sarahkelly.com. I have included her song in this blog because it so reminded me of my life. My past is behind me and out of reach. My today is all that matters. I have breathed out bitterness and forgiveness. Dearest God let me now breath in Your Grace and mercy.
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