Forgiveness Is Freeing...

I have learned over time that if you play the tit for tat game you are going to lose.... Having a one up on someone does not make you a winner - it doesn't make you happy... it puts you on guard for the next tit... the next tat... It does not allow you to show forgiveness... grace - it makes you buy into Satan's game... he wants discord... conflict.... tit for tat games.... he wants hate...... he wants anger...

I have learned that there are many angry and hateful people in the world. People who are looking for the tit for tat games... the one up on you games.... the I'm superior and you are beneath me games.... People who are so sad in their own existence that it makes them feel better to hurt.. belittle... and threaten others.... They remind me of the bully on the playground... I cannot help but feel sorry for these people.. because I know beneath their gruff and hateful exterior they feel helpless and sad inside.... They need to find the peace that only God can give them... They need to release all the bad that is binding their hearts... their lives.... their souls....

No one wants to live a life of pain. No one does..... But many find comfort in their anger... their hate... they may use excuses to give reason for the way they are.... They may have had an abusive parent... an abusive spouse.. friend, relative.. they are ill - they are not appreciated.. they have been abandoned.... there are thousands of reasons and excuses to build anger and hate on - it's all about choices.... We decide if we want to hate and take out our anger on others or we let it go... But the fact remains - everyone has had their share of pain... It is up to us to let go of what others have done or not done to us.....

I will never forget the death of a dear friend's dad.... her dad was an angry and often times an abusive man.. He did and said things to his daughters that no father should ever say or do.... He suffered for many years from cancer and many other smoking relating diseases.. I know that he found comfort in her faith... and in her sister's faith.... I know he found forgiveness.... But on the night he died - he was seeking forgiveness from her sister - he would not let go until he received it... When her sister told him that she forgave him and that she loved him... he became free... she became free..... Forgiving people who have harmed you.... is freeing.. It gives peace... It brings you closer to Christ and in that forgiveness and peace.. You find comfort... Her dad's death changed me... changed her it made us realize that life is so very short and I want to spend it loving others... not hating....

I love this quote about forgiveness from CS Lewis - There is no use in talking as if forgiveness were easy. We all know the old joke, "You've given up smoking once; I've given it up a dozen times." In the same way I could say of a certain man, "Have I forgiven him for what he did that day? I've forgiven him more times than I can count." For we find that the work of forgiveness has to be done over and over again....

God does not love us because we are lovable - many of us are not at times - me included - but He loves us because he loves - that is what He does.... I pray that I can become that person - the person who loves first at all times... that is quick to forgive.... slow to anger.... I pray that more people come to know Jesus and release their the hate and anger that bind them so that they can be free....