Monday 23 February 2015

Forgiveness


Matthew 18:21-22
Forgiveness
Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.

Jesus was a hard man
Took no prisoners
Called a spade a spade
Didn't let folk waffle
Was highly sensitive to hypocrisy
And spoke some harsh truth
But when he spoke of forgiveness 
And then went on
to practice what he preached
he raised the bar
way beyond 
what most of us 
are capable of reaching.
And it's not just about ability
It's about the will to forgive.
Quite frankly
Id rather go on living with resentment
than roll over and forgive
I'd rather hold on to that edge of anger
than gather the energy
to have another go at building a bridge.
The work of forgiveness
demands too much energy.
It seems easier just to move on
and chalk it up to experience.
But Jesus was a hard man.
He didn't simply roll over.
He didn't simply smile sweetly
and allow others
to go on hurting 
to go on betraying
He lifted forgiveness up to God
in an agonising cry.
"Father forgive"
And, if we can do no other...
If the time for building bridges is past
If the time for enduring more hurt has expired
We call on God to do the work that we can't
And we move on
singed, perhaps a tiny bit broken
and certainly scarred.
And we find our healing
in the love and forgiveness of God.

1 comment:

  1. The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. See the link below for more info.


    #forgiveness
    www.ufgop.org

    ReplyDelete

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