"For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you." Matthew 6:14
Forgiveness is one of the hardest things for me to do. Even though it means so much to God and to the other person, I let anger distract me every time. I try really hard to forget about my grudges and focus on the good things about the person I'm mad at, but I always let the mistake they made get in the way of it. It's hard to forgive someone who has hurt you by doing things like lying, saying bad things about you to other people, or trying to ruin some aspect of your life. But, forgiveness is way more important than anything anyone has done to you. God tells us that if we don't forgive others for their sins, He won't forgive us for ours. Pleasing Him and meeting him in Heaven is what inspires me the most to forgive people. In most situations, the people I dislike don't like me either and they don't regret doing what they did to me, which makes it so much harder to forgive them. I've been getting a lot better at forgiving people, though. I don't have a problem with anyone anymore, but I haven't gotten the guts to tell the people I wronged or that wronged me that I'm sorry and I forgive them. So, to anyone reading this who thinks I don't like them or who doesn't like me, I forgive you and I hope you forgive me. What happened in the past is in the past and it doesn't matter anymore. I'm sorry for anything I might've done or said to you out of anger. Being a good christian and not having enemies is very important to me, so I hope we can put all of this past us.
Faith, that is a beautiful verse. To know that our God is willing to forgive every single sin that every single person has ever committed is an amazing thing to think about. He is so merciful! Human nature prevents us from being so forgiving. I sometimes have a hard time letting go of grudges and anger towards others. When I get in that situation, I remember that the Bible says in Ephesians chapter four verse twenty-six that we should not let the sun set on our anger. That encourages me to let go of any pent up anger I've established during the day. I'm so proud of you for recognizing your problem with forgiveness and doing everything you can to turn it around. That truly shows where your focus is in your life. I will be praying that you continue to strive to please Him, and I ask that you would pray for me too! -- Karlee Sanders
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