Tuesday Tip #2


Forgiveness isn’t just a word.

Forgiveness.  An eleven lettered word that means a whole lot more than simply giving a grace period to someone that has hurt, or abandoned you.  A word that doesn't just mean pardoning the action, or accepting what happened, but more so an expression of knowing that you have to let it go. 
(Photo Credit To Photographer: Rachel Barnitz)
 
It doesn’t mean that you have to expose your heart to get hurt again.  It doesn’t mean that what they did was right or wrong.  But it does mean that we must learn to look past the pain, the hurt, the heartache, and the suffering to truly forgive. 

(Photo Credit To Photographer: Amber Nicole Ginter)
However, forgiveness is not immediate, although it is necessary.  Forgiveness is required, but it takes time.  Forgiveness is taken for granted, until we need it most.  But then it really hit me. 

When God died on the cross for our sins, He gave us the ultimate sacrifice of forgiveness.  He wasn’t thinking about if it was necessary, because He knew it was.  He wasn’t thinking if it was required, or would take time, because He was giving it at that very moment.  An eye wasn’t blinked as to if we deserved it or not, or would accept it when it was given.  It just was.

(Photo Credit To Photographer: Rachel Barnitz)
So then why do we as humans have to ponder at the fact to forgive when it should be a simple decision?  Why do we replay the events in our mind over and over again like a rolling television screen?  Because we are not God!  We are human, and have faults just like everyone else that need forgiven.  And if we are so apt to having others forgive us, shouldn’t we be willing to do the same for them?

Because when it all boils down to it, to forgive or to not forgive is the question we must ask ourselves.  For if Christ was willing to forgive us for all of our dirty, secret, hidden sins, we should reflect that grace and mercy onto others- even when they don’t deserve it.  It can be a difficult concept, I know.  But continuing to think negatively about that person every time you see them isn’t letting go.  And nor is letting that feeling of hatred affect every single thing that you do.

(Photo Credit To Photographer: Rachel Barnitz)
For all the people that have hurt you, have you truly forgiven them?  And to all the people that have ever hurt me, sometimes it just takes time.  I forgive you, but you have to give me time for the wounds to heal.  It may be weeks, it may be months, it may even take years, but just like forgiveness takes time to heal, so do I.

(Photo Credit To Photographer: Amber Ginter and Artist: Kasandra Dalton)

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