Forgiveness :)

The other night I went to Greenlane Christian Centre hoping to check out their youth group. But when I got there it wasn't on, I found out there were bible study groups on that night. So I thought to myself why not since I'm here, and to my surprise a lady named Maria who I had done an alpha course with 5 years ago was there! I hadn't seen her in ages, it was nice to catch up.

The topic they were studying that night was on forgiveness, something that I'm really struggling with at the moment :( It was nice to just share what I was going through with these women and not feel scared. We all shared our life experiences and it was great how we could all relate to each other :)

There were so many verses that we looked at that night, but the couple of verses that stood out to me were..

Ephesians 4:32

'Be kind to one another, forgiving each other , just as Christ God forgave you'

Romans 5:8

'But God Demonstrates his own love for us in this. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.'

These really helped me and made me think a lot about how I should love and forgive those who have hurt me, because Jesus has forgiven me and he has lead by example. It also said in the scriptures that we read, which I have heard before but it really spoke to me that night was Matthew 5:43-44 when Jesus says 'You have heard that it was said love your neighbor and hate your enemy , but I tell you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you'

It reminded me of how I should always be praying for those who have hurt me, regardless of all the hurt they have caused me. That is what Jesus taught and that is what God wants us to do, we need to be the better person, we need to be humble and love and pray for them. A question came up during the study "by forgiving them, does that mean we let them off the hook and the consequences? this was a tough question, but in the end we decided that no it doesn't mean they are off the hook or don't have to face the consequences. We agreed that forgiveness is a choice we all make, we can choose to forgive but that doesn't mean its ok for what they did.

To me now forgiveness means the demonstration of mercy and love towards someone who has hurt or offended you, with the goal of reconciliation with them. Gods forgiveness is the outpouring of abundant grace and mercy that provides pardon to the guilty. Forgiveness does not necessarily mean a release from the consequences of actions but it does provide full release from the guilt and shame of the wrongdoing.

Often it is hard to forgive those who hurt us deeply, but how can we not forgive in the light of his supreme sacrifice. I guess for me this has helped me a lot as I accept Gods forgiveness I will draw on the strength to forgive others.

I need to forgive myself first and then ask him to help me forgive those who have hurt me no matter how long it will take, I cant in my own strength 'I can do everything through him who strengthens me' (philippians 4:13)

I know he got me to randomly attend that bible study for a reason, he knows this is something I am struggling with. Thankyou Lord great is your faithfulness