FORGIVENESS: Easier said than done!

"forgive us of our sins, as we forgive those who have sinned against us" Matt.6:12

 I was looking within my heart for words to convey the weight of forgiveness and too quickly realize that I FAIL TOO WELL AT THIS TASK OF FORGIVING"

 As, I prepare to teach this lesson , I've had to do a introspective look of my interpretation of forgiveness and how that looks in my life.  I've found that our slow pace towards  forgiveness is retarded  because we feel we will have to :

1.  Give up the right to be right
2.  Smooth things over and lose to opportunity to be resolved
3.  Forget what happened 
4.  Excuse the offense 

 Though these " feelings " are real and ever present when faced with the decision to forgive or not forgive; this type of handling of FORGIVENESS, is at the eye  and mind level. We are seeing the offense, and have processed the offense in light of its weight, size and how it made us feel, but many stop there. We avoid going to the heart level and interpret our response through the lens of Christ because we fear it will cost too much. 

 So,  as I look at the process of FORGIVENESS IN MY OWN LIFE,  I don't seek to address the eye/lip level of FORGIVENESS.  I SEEK TO REALLY PICK AT THE HEART LEVEL. The heart fails because , as C.S Lewis rightly notes "Everyone thinks forgiveness is a lovely idea until he has something to forgive." 

Such truth in those words! FORGIVENESS IS NOT AN ISSUE UNTIL IT'S AN ISSUE"  Dennis Rainey of Family Life Ministries says, " It's not until forgiveness becomes personal and costly that it takes on its actual size and weight." The actual weight and size of Forgiveness must be considered if we are to really experience forgiveness at the Christ level. 

To receive and give forgiveness we must dig deeper and truly understand what forgiveness is and is not. We must understand that FORGIVENESS, is an essential virtue in our journey with God. To forgive is a spiritual  mandate to forgive as we have been forgiven. Hence, we must hurry to this posture of being one who forgives at the heart level.  "If you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. " Matthew 6:14 

 What a weight! Heavy ha? Yes, I feel heart surgery is being schedule for myself and many of the children of God who really want to obey his mandate to being one who forgives. 

 FORGIVENESS  means: 

•  Embracing the offender--Christ modeled forgiveness at its best when He forgave and welcomed back those who hurt Him the most.
•  Being proactive--When Jesus said from the cross, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34), He was forgiving people before they even asked for it. 
•  Surrendering the right to get even--The essence of forgiveness,  is letting go of our rights to punish and see justice done.  

 Actions to Pursue: Pray and ask the Lord to lead you through the process of Forgiveness that glorifies Him and not your "feelings". Ask him to give you a heart for forgiveness and ask Him to help you release all past, present and future offenders into his hands.  Ask the Lord to heal your heart and give you the courage to move on in biblical forgiveness , that you'd also receive the forgiveness of God.