Forgiveness Is A Choice
Ever been hurt by someone and knew you needed to forgive them but had a difficult time doing so? Consider this.
When we choose to forgive, to let go of past hurts, to release someone from a grudge - we are choosing to let God handle the situation. We are choosing to let God do a greater work in our lives.
This doesn't mean we pretend the hurt didn't happen, it doesn't mean we condone the action, doesn't necessarily mean we let that person back in our lives to hurt us again. But it does mean that we free them from our judgment and place judgment in the hands of God who is able to judge. And in freeing those who hurt us we are really freeing ourselves. Freedom from carrying a very heavy weight that God never intended for us to carry.
Think about it.
When we choose to forgive, to let go of past hurts, to release someone from a grudge - we are choosing to let God handle the situation. We are choosing to let God do a greater work in our lives.
This doesn't mean we pretend the hurt didn't happen, it doesn't mean we condone the action, doesn't necessarily mean we let that person back in our lives to hurt us again. But it does mean that we free them from our judgment and place judgment in the hands of God who is able to judge. And in freeing those who hurt us we are really freeing ourselves. Freedom from carrying a very heavy weight that God never intended for us to carry.
Think about it.
posted by Anonymous at 9:00 PM
1 Comments:
Don,
This is a vital area that you are addressing, as well as extremely difficult at times. So often we think the person must deserve forgiveness, or we want some act of contrition on their part, but I think the radical forgiveness that the Gospel calls us to is something so counter-culture, counter human-nature that it is almost shocking.
I feel that radical, undeserved forgiveness for others is how we enter into the foundational prayer of our Lord. And, as the Blessed St. Francis taught us: "For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life."
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