Friday, March 23, 2012

Forgiving

“It’s okay.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“It no longer matters.”

“I forgive you.”

“You’re forgiven.”

Those five sentences are some of the most powerful any person can ever hope to hear. Guilt, grief, regret, and sorrow are four things most people experience at some time in their lives. They can be four of the most destructive feelings, or they can be four of the most motivating and transformative.

Most of us have done things we feel bad about. We can let that consume us to the point of being overcome by negative emotions and actions, or we can learn from them and change our actions, accepting forgiveness for ourselves from self and from others.

I remember having a friend (one of few) at a daycare I went to when I was little. We played together a bunch. He was a few years younger than me. One day while we were out on the playground, he crossed the fence and went onto the adjoining field. The lady that watched us yelled for him from the house to come back. I remember standing by the fence calling at him as well. He came back, and as he crossed over into the yard, I spanked him and fussed at him. The lady that watched us stopped me though, and I wound up in trouble myself for what I’d done to him. I don’t remember us ever being friends after that.

I look back at this and it bothers me. It has ever sense it happened. It’s not the worst thing I’ve ever done, but I use it now to get a point across: people can be bothered by things they did so many years ago, and from such a young age (I was probably only six or seven), that probably all others have no recollection at all about. I seriously doubt that young boy, the lady that watched us, or any of the other kids remember what happened at all. And yet, I do, and it’s something I have felt regret about.

The wrongs that we do always have consequences. Some are worse than others. Knowing there can be forgiveness though, is one of the best things we can have. Whether we’re offered forgiveness from others, or forgive ourselves, or get it from God, forgiveness has the power to transform so much about us. When we have forgiveness, this transformation is for the good, freeing us to move forward in life. When we do not have forgiveness, however, this transformation can be for the bad, holding us back or causing us to commit further wrongs.

Sin is so very dangerous. When we sin we stain our souls in such a way that none of us could ever imagine. Even the smallest of sins has the power to destroy everything about us. God knows this. He knows how much damage we cause ourselves and others. And yet He loves us enough to forgive us. He loves us enough to have offered himself as a payment for our sins. How greater a gift could any of us ever hope to have? It is the best gift, forgiveness. It is one that to not accept is so incredibly sad.

I’ll admit, in the past, forgiving myself has been the hardest thing for me to do. I’ve held many things over my head for years, and struggled mercilessly to stop doing. What helps when someone does this is to start out with accepting and knowing that God truly does offer forgiveness. When you accept Christ into your life, all those wrongs are washed away, forgotten, put aside. They’re no longer held against you. If God can do that for you, then surely you can do that for yourself.

When we accept forgiveness, we feel the weight of that sin leave us forever. When we accept forgiveness, we no longer have to carry that burden which has held us down. It’s gone.

Imagine how much freer we’d all feel if we could accept forgiveness, in all of its forms, at all times.

How much better off would you be?

4 comments:

A L B E R T O said...

Hey dude how are?, sorry cuz I don't even told u my name, my name is Alberto I'm from mexico, Im 21 years old and im an universty man.
I'm a christian too.
I can't remember how I arrived here LOL, but I looked at your blog and found it cool

OH man you gotta have a big brain to remember things when you have 6 or 7, hahaha I remember that the first day of the primary school one boy stole the new scissors my parents bought me and until now I don't even told them.
So you wrote a cool things above and sometimes we don't even recognize the point of forgivin'.

So dude maybe you're asking urself who am I to write you like this or I don't know, I came to the Jesus' way firstly because of His grace and and after that cuz I recognized His as my Saviour, and rather than tell u if Im gay or bi or straight, I've never had problem with that I've always said I'm a man and better than a man of God, but the truth is, well I don't believe in psycology but 4 psycology I'm bisexual, and not because I've arrived 2 Jesus, since I can remember.
and maybe because of my childhood, the way we all lived, but I don't like to shild myself of that, cuz we are the owner of our acts. But now dude we're new in Jesus name, we must for the Kingdom of God and show the others whats God about, ok? So I fell terrible when I see in media, the news or the internet "former gays" are now ex ex gays dude, sometimes that pull me down but not because I believe I'm gonna be like them or I'll finish the way they did, just cuz they're turning back and quickly I start pray God, so what's going on in that Churches? It's terrible how they start believing in God and after years they're against not with God but with His Gospel and pastors leaders, so what have they doing? I mean fill the church and be sat cannot change nothing, it's sad to get noticed people lose their dreams just because they want to fight themselves with their orientation, and don't fight 4 their lives. Lol I think I've made this pretty long, I'd like to be your friend dude and trust me it's nice to know there is people like u that r fighting for the Kingdom's God.

so man hope you're cool and let God bless you

OH I ALMOST FORGOT IT I SPEAK SPANISH SO IF I CANNOT TALK THE WAY YOU AMERICAN DO LOL,

TWM BLOG
AL TALLER DEL MAESTRO
F O R U M

Brendon said...

Alberto, thanks for commenting on my blog. I'm glad you like it. I hope you'll feel free to comment in the future as well, should you choose to do so. I appreciated the things you had to say.

As for your English, it was well enough. No worries. :)

naturgesetz said...

It's sad when people repent of their sins but continue to feel guilty, as if they can't bring themselves to realize that God forgives them.

Brendon said...

I think that's really just a consequence of sin. We may know we're forgiven, but the effects linger still. Some sins just carry a lot of weight like that.