Forgiving others - why bother?
Forgiven by Ali Patel
Today's thought is an excerpt from Spacious Place: Closer to Jesus Through Imaginative Prayer…
Why is forgiveness of others so important? What if you don't feel like forgiving?
Forgiving others when they hurt you isn’t easy. But forgiveness is needed for healthy relationships.
In fact, the quickest way to create relationship barriers is to refuse to say sorry or to forgive.
There are two ways that people can hurt you - intentionally or unintentionally. Both are not God’s best for you. Both leave their mark.
An intentional sin could be someone telling you how much they dislike you and why you irritate them so much. It will leave you believing some lies about yourself (unloveable, unwanted…) and there will be a need for you to forgive them for their intentional verbal abuse of you.
An unintentional sin could be you not getting the care you needed as a baby, as your mother was too sick. It will leave you believing lies about yourself (unloveable, unwanted…) and there will be a need for you to forgive them for their unintentional abandonment of you.
It hurts to forgive someone when they have hurt you…
And forgiveness is a choice…
However, the Bible is clear on the matter of forgiveness. It isn’t a ‘nice-to-have’. It is an essential requirement for your spiritual, emotional and relational health.
“Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” Colossians 3:13
Although forgiving others is always a choice, God knows is better for your spiritual, mental and physical health to be quick to forgive. But he never forces you to forgive, it is his invitation for you to journey into greater freedom.
The process of forgiveness begins when you choose to trust that God knows what he is doing. And that he has your best interests at heart. Even when he is asking you to choose to forgive the seemingly unforgivable.
So, why not pray the following today?
“God only you know the things in my heart that have hurt me so deeply and that need your healing touch. Can you show me over the coming weeks, months and years the areas where I have not released forgiveness to those who have intentionally and unintentionally hurt me.
“Help me to begin to process the damage that has been caused by others and to choose to forgive them. Meet me in that place of pain with your comfort and lead me on into greater depths of intimacy and freedom with you. Amen.”
For more on forgiving others and yourself, or to try out the ‘choose to forgive’ visualisation prayer, why not get the book?
