We as christians live in a forgiven reality and we are blessed with the truth of God’s overwhelming grace and patience. We know that through Jesus’s death on the cross and his resurrection, the entire human race has been given forgiveness. We are so blessed to have a God like that, a God of grace and forgiveness.
Speaking of forgiveness that's what I want to talk about! I'll be covering two kinds of forgiveness in these next two articles. Forgiving others and Forgiving yourself.
Let's start with forgiving others. I'm pretty sure I can speak for everyone when I say we have all been wronged at least once in our lives. People have embarrassed us, mistreated us, betrayed us, hurt us, etc, and as much as we might want (or might not want to at times) to let go of the anger that burns towards the person, we often find it hard to forgive.
Think about an example of that: What is something that someone has done to you recently that felt like it was unforgivable? How could you ever forgive what they did?
Now I want you to think of what Jesus did so that YOU could be forgiven, and let me tell you upfront it was NOT easy. He was whipped, beaten, spat on, punctured, stabbed, mocked, and betrayed. All in the same night. And yet, he was willing to go through the mental and physical suffering, the agony of being tortured into death. The king of heaven himself was willing to die the death of a common criminal, so that your sins that were truly unforgivable, could be forgiven.
Jesus went through all that so that YOU could be forgiven.
He could have walked away and spared himself. He could have chosen only certain people to die for, so that only those who had treated him well, were forgiven. But he didn't do that.
He died so that the whole world could be forgiven and saved. Judas, the Pharisees, the Romans who crucified him, the people who openly rebel against God, were all included in those who have the choice of accepting the forgiveness that Jesus offers through his death.
So, how do we apply this to our lives? Well, first thing we can take from this is that forgiveness isn't always easy. It's painful, it's messy, and it hurts. We don't always WANT to forgive the other person, but we see in the story of the garden of Gathsemane that Jesus didn't WANT to die. He begged God for another way. But we also see him surrendering it to God, "saying 'Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done'." ~Luke 22:42 (esv)
In this way, we know that no matter how hard we want to hang on to the anger and hurt, ultimately we have to turn it over to God, so that his will may be done in our lives.
And we should remember WHAT Jesus forgave. Through Jesus, God forgave billions worth of lives full of rebellion, oppression, disobedience, and sin against him and that is truly amazing. So when we feel like what's been done to us is unforgivable, remember what Jesus chose to forgive. (note: I am not trying to downplay what you’re going through, just putting things into perspective :) ).
Also, remember that you're not alone. When Jesus died , it says that the curtain in the temple tore, the one that used to separate the priest from the holy of holies. Through Jesus's death the connection between us and God was restored! You have the ability to cry out to God the way Jesus did. He hears your prayers.
So when someone hurts you and you recognize that you need to forgive them but you don't know where to start, call out to God. His love is deeper than the deepest oceans and his grace wider than the open sky.
It's amazing how much the easter story teaches us about forgiveness! I hope you have an amazing easter and that you enjoyed reading this article!
"Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." ~Ephesians 4:32 (esv)
until next time!
~Willow <3
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