The scriptures have awesome instructions on forgiveness. There is the commandment “I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive but of you it is required to forgive all men.”
There is the promise, “For if ye forgive men their trespasses your Heavenly Father will also forgive your trespasses.” It is followed by the scary very motivating promise that “if ye forgive not men their trespasses neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” That alone should place forgiveness pretty close to the top of all our learning lists!
Here is something that I heard over 30 years ago. It is a simple statement that at first glance doesn’t appear to have anything to do with forgiveness. The statement is this- “If you truly love someone, you can not be hurt by them.” When I first heard this I knew it was a true statement but I couldn’t quite get my head around it. It burned itself into my soul and over the years it would pop up every once in awhile and again I would almost but not quite get it.
I think I understand it now and I realize that love has everything to do with forgiveness. In fact, they are inseparable. Christ like love is given in SPITE of a person’s actions not BECAUSE of them. It is instant forgiveness, given to a person not because they have earned it but because we see past the hurt they caused us to the hurt they are causing themselves. There lies the key to forgiveness- taking ourselves and our hurt out of the equation, caring more about the other person than we do of ourselves.
We are human. We will all hurt at times. What we do with that hurt is what’s important. Will we let it fester and swell with blame and hate? Or will we let the cleansing power of love and forgiveness begin the healing process?
The Atonement of our Savior has everything to do with love and forgiveness. He suffered the weight of our sins in Gethsemane so that we could be forgiven of them. Do we believe in the Atonement or don’t we? If we believe then we have to believe that the Atonement applies to everyone. If Jesus died so that all could be forgiven, who are we to hold back our forgiveness? Who are we to pick and choose who we will or will not forgive?
I’d like to add a thought that a wise and sweet friend shared with me recently, it goes something like this-, “I believe that everyone is doing their best with what they’ve got, who they are, and what their circumstances are.” To which I would add, “even if they aren’t, that’s their problem not mine and I won’t let it become my problem or let it hold back my progression.”
The Atoning blood of Christ offers forgiveness to everyone including us, let it in, let it cleanse, let it heal the hurts done by others and the hurts we’ve done to ourselves by not forgiving the hurts done to us by others. During this Easter season as we ponder more deeply than usual the sacrifice of our Savior, let’s all renew our commitment and open our hearts, letting Him teach us to love and forgive even as He does. That’s the view from my side of the street, what’s yours?
There is the promise, “For if ye forgive men their trespasses your Heavenly Father will also forgive your trespasses.” It is followed by the scary very motivating promise that “if ye forgive not men their trespasses neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” That alone should place forgiveness pretty close to the top of all our learning lists!
Here is something that I heard over 30 years ago. It is a simple statement that at first glance doesn’t appear to have anything to do with forgiveness. The statement is this- “If you truly love someone, you can not be hurt by them.” When I first heard this I knew it was a true statement but I couldn’t quite get my head around it. It burned itself into my soul and over the years it would pop up every once in awhile and again I would almost but not quite get it.
I think I understand it now and I realize that love has everything to do with forgiveness. In fact, they are inseparable. Christ like love is given in SPITE of a person’s actions not BECAUSE of them. It is instant forgiveness, given to a person not because they have earned it but because we see past the hurt they caused us to the hurt they are causing themselves. There lies the key to forgiveness- taking ourselves and our hurt out of the equation, caring more about the other person than we do of ourselves.
We are human. We will all hurt at times. What we do with that hurt is what’s important. Will we let it fester and swell with blame and hate? Or will we let the cleansing power of love and forgiveness begin the healing process?
The Atonement of our Savior has everything to do with love and forgiveness. He suffered the weight of our sins in Gethsemane so that we could be forgiven of them. Do we believe in the Atonement or don’t we? If we believe then we have to believe that the Atonement applies to everyone. If Jesus died so that all could be forgiven, who are we to hold back our forgiveness? Who are we to pick and choose who we will or will not forgive?
I’d like to add a thought that a wise and sweet friend shared with me recently, it goes something like this-, “I believe that everyone is doing their best with what they’ve got, who they are, and what their circumstances are.” To which I would add, “even if they aren’t, that’s their problem not mine and I won’t let it become my problem or let it hold back my progression.”
The Atoning blood of Christ offers forgiveness to everyone including us, let it in, let it cleanse, let it heal the hurts done by others and the hurts we’ve done to ourselves by not forgiving the hurts done to us by others. During this Easter season as we ponder more deeply than usual the sacrifice of our Savior, let’s all renew our commitment and open our hearts, letting Him teach us to love and forgive even as He does. That’s the view from my side of the street, what’s yours?
Shower Taps are one of the necessary things needed in a home. All bathrooms must have LED taps; there is no bath space without them. These Antique Basin Taps help to control the free out flow of water, and even do much more these days.
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