Hard to Forgive
Matthew 5:44-45 But I tell you, love your enemies. Pray for those who treat you badly. If you do this, you will be children who are truly like your Father in heaven. He lets the sun rise for all people, whether they are good or bad. He sends rain to those who do right and to those who do wrong.
Forgiveness. It’s easy to say that we should forgive other people, but actually doing it, well that’s a whole other thing. Some people seem impossible to forgive. So, how do you forgive those people?
Let’s face it, some people are just hard to forgive. Have you noticed?
I think we all have someone like that. You want to forgive them, but they’ve hurt you so much or so often, that you just can’t bring yourself to that point.
I had some people like that in my life who hurt me very deeply over a quarter of a century ago. And I knew that unless I forgave them, God wouldn’t forgive me. That’s what Jesus said.
But how do you forgive people like that?
Matthew 5:44-45 But I tell you, love your enemies. Pray for those who treat you badly. If you do this, you will be children who are truly like your Father in heaven. He lets the sun rise for all people, whether they are good or bad. He sends rain to those who do right and to those who do wrong.
I used to look at that – love your enemies – and try to live it out, but can I tell you, I found it absolutely impossible. I just couldn’t. I banged my head up against a brick wall for many years, until finally I got it! The answer is in the second part of what Jesus said – pray for those who treat you badly. So that’s what I started doing. Praying for my enemies (not that God would smite them, although I did think about it!) but that God would bless them.
And as time went by, praying for them, God changed my heart. Forgiveness flooded into my heart. What an awesome God!
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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Patrick Gerome P Montes
Very well said Berni!
Very well said Berni!