We Must Learn To Forgive

We Must Learn to Forgive

“For as churning the milk produces butter, and as twisting the nose produces blood, so stirring up anger produces strife.”
Proverbs 30:33

There are not many of us that have not been hurt at some time in our life, which has stirred up anger inside us, against the people who have hurt us. Many times this anger has grown and become an infection that has spread throughout out life, and has kept us from experiencing God at His fullest. As I counsel people I have found that forgiving hurts of the past and moving on with their lives is difficult for many of them. I have heard these people say they can never be able to forgive those who have hurt them, as they have been damaged too greatly to forgive. The thing that we must always remember when we think we are unable to forgive, is that we don’t understand just how much we have been forgiven by God. It may be difficult for some to see this, especially those who have gone through deep hurt, but nothing others have done to you is as awful as what you have done to God. Jesus died a terrific death for us as He was beaten, humiliated, crucified and died on the cross for our sins. Our sins did this to Him and He is still willing to forgive us. Unless we are willing to forgive others, Jesus tells us that He is not willing to forgive us. This is important, as His refusal to forgive us if we are not willing to forgive others, could be the only thing that will keep us from experiencing God’s kingdom. Having been given such forgiveness from God, can we, or better still, dare we withhold our forgiveness from anyone who has betrayed our trust and hurt us, no matter how horrifying that hurt has been? I would encourage each of you to search your self and see if you are holding anger against another. Do it today and forgive them so that God can then forgive you.