Jun
15
A couple years ago I had a lot of resentment and bitterness toward people I felt had let me down. I was weighed down by unforgiveness. During this time I started reading a book called Total Forgiveness by R.T. Kendall, which had a part in it that hit me hard:
“A refusal to forgive means that God stands back and lets you cope with your problems in your own strength.”
And I found this to be very true. When I held onto my unforgiveness, it was as if I was sapped of all strength. It was as if I was weighed down and chained to my dark and bitter thoughts. Joy had been evading me.
I began to start forgiving. God saw my obedience and began to bless me with peace, joy, and true freedom.
Is there someone you need to forgive? How long do you want to let yourself be chained by resentment? The joy of the Lord is your strength, so forgive and get it back!
Michelle
Jun
5
Jay and I started watching the show Prison Break a while ago, and finished all four seasons within a few months. As I was watching one of the early episodes, I was alerted to something that I did not realize was in my heart. As we got to know some of the characters, I began to hate one with a passion: T-Bag. He was in prison for raping and murdering children, an he was truly a disgusting character the whole way through. At one point in the show, I remember filling with anger and thinking “even Jesus cannot save this man.” I didn’t want people like him to ever experience the grace and forgiveness of Christ.
When we were driving to the movie store later that night, I burst into tears and told Jay what I had thought. I had doubted the power of the Cross and completely denied the power that Jesus holds to redeem the lives of the ugliest sinners. Even child molesters.
As I have mentioned on this blog before, I am passionate about the fight to end sex trafficking. I realized that men who traffic women and sell them into a life of rape are just like T-Bag: the ugliest of sinners. Yet I can’t let hatred for traffickers overtake my life, because Jesus died for them as well. That is such a hard pill for me to swallow. Yes, traffickers and child molesters deserve punishment for their actions. Sin always has consequences. But we must believe that Jesus Christ has the power to redeem even them. The same eternal life that is available to us is available to them…if they choose Jesus as their Saviour and Lord.
Who have you written off as unforgivable? Let us repent of our unbelief and remember the earth shattering power of Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Michelle
Ruthann Says:
June 15th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
One thing that I have learned from Michelle is that when one forgives, you have to recognize that the person may not change. They may not be sorry for how they hurt you. They may always treat you that way. In spite of that, you are able to experience freedom by forgiving them and loving them without condition of them changing or ’saying sorry first’. Let the freedom Christ brought through the forgiveness of wrongs.
June 18th, 2009 at 7:07 am
I think that is what makes forgiving hard sometimes…we’d feel a lot better if they begged for it at our feet. But often that does not happen. Another quote from the book I read is this: “When we know and face fully what they did, and accept in our hearts that they will be blessed without any consequence for their wrong, we cross over into a supernatural realm. We begin to be a little more like Jesus, to change into the image of Christ.” This does not mean that we have to let people walk all over us and abuse us. Forgiveness is an issue of the heart, and when we get to the place where we are okay with that person being blessed by God regardless of what they did…wow…that certainly is a sign that God has worked on your heart!