I love it when it seems as if a sermon is directed right at you.
Forgiveness--it isn't a matter of justice, but rather a matter of the heart. I think it's easy for people to forgive when they feel as if what has been owed to them, such as an explanation or something has been done to make up for the hurt, has been paid. However that isn't true forgiveness, that is the foundation of resentment which leads to a very bitter mindset. The people that have hurt you wouldn't be able to repay what they "owe" in a lifetime anyway. I think I have spent a lot of time these past few months allowing resentment to build in me for the people that have hurt me. I have been betrayed and abandoned by some of my closest friends, people that I fully trusted and ever since the collapse of this trust, I have let the anger build. I've been focusing on a way for justice to be served. That is definitely not the way it works. They don't owe me anything.. not an explanation for their behavior, not even a service to make up for the hurt they have caused, nothing. It is hard for me to believe that that is how my mind works. After all that God has forgiven me of, without providing a penalty for my actions, I still pursue this mindset of resentment to the people who sin against me. Who am I to demand that they pay what they owe? I am worse than them. It's one thing to acknowledge that this is how I have been living and it's another to change it. That is definitely something that I am going to be praying for help in, to change my perspective on forgiveness.
Matthew 18:21
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