Living Water: Forgiveness

Tomorrow at the Men's study we look at the third chapter of Living Water by Brother Yun: Forgiveness.

This book keeps driving me to my knees.

As I looked at the necessity of forgiving others for their injustices (real or imagined) against me, I came to the realization that I need to approach God for forgiveness for I often fall short. And there are others that I need to ask for forgiveness. This is the tough one to tackle.

Brother Yun points out that forgiveness takes one. Reconciliation takes two. I can forgive someone and they may not ever realize or acknowledge that they have hurt me. But I have to let go of the bitterness that I often want to hold on to and nurture. I can only do that if I really, truly forgive them.

"Unforgiveness would achieve only two things. First, it would harden
my heart and cause a root of bitterness to take hold and second, my
relationship with Jesus Christ would be damaged."

We seem to think that we have a special relationship with God. We do, but not in the way that we like to think. When we don't forgive we seem to be saying that: Everyone else should get what they deserve but I should get special grace.

That is the wrong way to think.

Forgiveness of others is an offer not a burden. In fact it releases us from the burden we carry around. Again, they may not even admit that they have done anything wrong. They may never know that we have forgiven them. But forgiveness turns them over to God and takes me out of the judgement business. Let God decide how He will deal with them.

Unforgiveness puts us in a spiritual prison. It sucks the joy out of our lives.

Forgiving someone else set us free.