Devotional Time with God

It’s a question that I’ve asked, and heard people asked about.  Being Christian, forgiveness is the hardest concept I have to wrestle with.

I grew up as a skinny nerd, not a strong kid.  I get bullied – a lot.  I grew up dealing with the put-downs, the snow-jobs, the resentment, etc.  One toxic byproduct of this was my propensity to hold a grudge and not being able to forgive.

Now that Jesus is in my life, this attitude is changing.

In Colossians 3:13, it says I have to forgive others just as as God has forgiven me.  It can’t be any simpler than that.

When I think about, having resentment doesn’t do me any good.  Why should I be the one in pain and suffering, sometimes in years, thinking about old wounds?  I have to go on.  Resentment is unreasonable (Job 5:2), unhelpful, and unhealthy (Job 21:23-25). I need to move on.

Furthermore, I need forgiveness for my future mistakes.  I’m not a perfect person. I will make mistakes.  I offer forgiveness because I need to be forgiven, for now and the future.  It’s in the Lord’s prayer (Matthew 6:12).

It is good to be forgiven.  It is better to forgive.

Last night, I got to put to the test what I had learned for the past week on how to reconcile. Out of all the people, it had to be Yantie.  She didn’t like my tone when I talked to her, and we got into a major argument over a minor misunderstanding.  The words that she used were painful and hurtful. She did it because she felt the same way about me yelling at her.  I felt like Job being put through the test.  It felt like the end.  I didn’t have any other choice but to plead for God’s help in keeping our marriage together.  I had to offer peace offering and begged to reconcile our differences.   I had to absorb my pain, as she did, when she gave me another chance.  I didn’t want to waste our relationship and I agreed on being quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger.  I also vowed not to raise my voice to her again.

I must remember this day.  It’s the day that reconciliation is the key to any resolution in conflict.