Forgiveness chooses to do it God’s Way instead of holding on to unforgiveness and allowing bitterness and anger to creep in.
This is an awesome story:
A young lady named Sally, relates an experience she had in a seminary class, given by her teacher. She says that Dr. Smith was known for his elaborate object lessons. One particular day, Sally walked into the seminary and knew they were in for a fun day. On the wall was a big target and on a nearby table were many darts. Dr. Smith told the students to draw a picture of someone that they disliked or someone who had made them angry, and he would allow them to throw darts at the person’s picture.
Sally’s friend drew a picture of a girl who had stolen her boyfriend. Another friend drew a picture of his little brother. Sally drew a picture of a former friend, putting a great deal of detail into her drawing, even drawing pimples on the face. Sally was pleased with the overall effect she had achieved.
The class lined up and began throwing darts. Some of the students threw their darts with such force that their targets were ripping apart. Sally looked forward to her turn, and was filled with disappointment when Dr. Smith, because of time limits, asked the students to return to their seats. Sally sat thinking about how angry she was because she didn’t have a chance to throw any darts at her target.
Dr. Smith began removing the target from the wall. Underneath the target was a picture of Jesus. A hush fell over the room as each student viewed the mangled picture of Jesus; holes and jagged marks covered His face and His eyes were pierced.
Dr. Smith said only these words…. ‘In as much as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me.’ Matthew 25:40.
No other words were necessary; the tear filled eyes of the students focused only on the picture of Christ.
It is easy to let your focus be consumed by how someone else has wronged you.
Satan knows that the more he can make you dwell on how others have wronged you, the less time you will have to concentrate on God.
And you can never be used greatly by God if you are in spiritual bondage because you won’t forgive. Because forgiveness chooses to do it God’s Way.
You WILL be hurt by the actions of others at least once. You may never understand why they acted the way they did. And they may never ask you for forgiveness.
It is not in your fleshly nature to naturally forgive someone. And especially when you don’t feel you have done wrong in the matter.
Your flesh wants to dwell on it for hours, days or sometimes months. And during all that time you probably thought of many hurtful words you would like to say to get back at them.
But God has a completely different way of how He wants you to act when someone has hurt you.
Ephesians 4: 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
He wants you to look at things from His perspective. He only desires to give you His Best, and wants to be able to use you for His Glory.
Because of this He has set forth guidelines in the Bible on how to live. He willingly forgives us when we don’t deserve it. In fact Jesus came to earth to die on the cross and rise again. Then we can be forgiven of every sin.
So if God forgives you when you don’t deserve it, He expects you to forgive others when they don’t deserve it.
I think we all know someone who has refused to forgive and eventually fell into a life of bitterness and anger, driving away those around them.
Your flesh can speak very loudly that forgiveness could never be the right thing to do. Because your logical mind will tell you that if you forgive, the other person will never have to pay for what they have done. You feel like it’s up to you to make them pay.
When you refuse to forgive, it opens a door for Satan to bring bitterness, anger, and hate into your life.
But God says in His Word that a person will always reap what they have sown. The other person will not get out of having to suffer consequences.
God wants YOU to forgive so that YOU can let it go and concentrate on what He wants YOU to do.
Galatians 6: 7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.
Living in unforgiveness can make you a miserable person.
But forgiveness brings peace, joy, and fulfillment.
The act of forgiveness restores your fellowship with God. Now He can start to use and bless you again. Living in unforgiveness is not worth having a broken relationship with God.
Forgiveness chooses to do it God’s Way. It lets go of the situation and allows God to heal you in a way that only He can.
You can’t totally forgive on your own. But the Holy Spirit will help you in a supernatural way. Forgiveness is not meant to be understood from man’s point of view – only God’s.
Make the choice to forgive and let God handle the rest of the story in the way He desires…
