I want to be forgiving, but some things are unforgivable. Aren't they?

August 14, 2013: I want to be forgiving, but some things are unforgivable. Aren't they? Please “Share” this link to a new Precious Prodigal Blog Post: http://wp.me/p1D8dQ-co

Matthew 18:21 “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”

 

Hearing my friend Steve Reynolds preach about forgiveness this weekend was a reminder to me of things I really already know but don’t always apply. He correctly said that people who hold those offences close to their hearts and keep a list don’t have just one person on that list.

 

Think about your own life and your own list for a moment like I did after he said that. Once you get past the things you are harboring against your prodigal, who else is on your list? If it’s like my list, my prodigal had company. Why? The simple answer is that my unforgiving heart isn’t about the prodigal at all. It’s about me and how I handle life.

 

That doesn’t mean that everything that happens to you or has happened to you is your fault. Were there things that happened in your childhood…things you were helpless to prevent? You certainly didn’t cause those. But who is suffering for them today? The person or persons who hurt you may not even be alive anymore. But in locking those people who hurt you into a prison of unforgiveness, you have locked yourself in there right along with them. And you're still locked in there. The same is true about your prodigal and the times he or she has hurt you.

 

Harry and I had custody of two of our grandkids for almost three years. When the kids were transitioned back home to the parents, it was a really tough time for us. We were frightened for the kids, still angry with the parents, and hurting in the way only someone who loves a prodigal would understand. On top of all that, they still owed us somewhere between $3,000 and $4,000 in medical bills. Then they wrote a letter to us through our lawyer asking us to let them pay that money back over a period of two years.

 

After walking out in the yard, praying and struggling with what to do, I went inside and asked Harry if he really wanted to do this for two more years. He answered, “I don’t want to do this for two more minutes!” What did we do? We typed a letter, signed it and had it notarized, formally forgiving the debt and leaving us no recourse to collect it later. When we put that letter in the mailbox at the post office, and the door closed on it, I felt like the weight of the world had been lifted off my shoulders.

It isn’t that we didn’t need it…we did. It isn’t that they didn’t owe us…they did. But it wasn’t about them at all. We did it for ourselves. Because we didn’t want to, didn’t have the strength to, and didn’t have the energy to carry it for two more years.

Most of the things we need to forgive aren’t as tangible or as simple as money. But the principle is the same. In letting go of that anger and resentment and choosing instead to forgive, you will feel the chains fall away and realize you, not your prodigal or others, have forged those chains and bound yourself. And who knows…maybe you and I can make forgiveness a habit, a custom, a way of life and be free because freedom is a good thing. No wonder Jesus said we needed to forgive.

 

Challenge For Today: Can you, just for today, think of one person or one hurt and choose to forgive by the exercise of your will? Can you let it go?

Author's Note

August 14, 2013:
I want to be forgiving, but some things are unforgivable. Aren't they?
Please “Share” this link to a new Precious Prodigal Blog Post:
http://wp.me/p1D8dQ-co