All my life
I have studied about forgiveness, from the perspective of the Bible,
from
psychology , sociology , and its influence on human health, I have always tried
to practice forgiveness ... but so far I am struggling. I find it hard to
forgive (It is not a virtue , I 'm ashamed to say that, but it is the truth).
Whenever I get offended, I have to think about it, repent of my anger, forgive
in my heart, and seek to approach with love the
person who hurt me. As I am an expert in being offended, I had to become an
expert in forgiveness. We cannot live happily without forgiving, we cannot live
without forgiving. The lack of forgiveness is like moorings that keep us from
moving forward. If you want to enjoy marriage, or family, or friendship, you
have to learn to forgive.
An aerostatic balloon cannot fly until it is
released from its moorings and weights. It cannot go up and fulfill its purpose
for which it was created. If we don't forgive we get stuck.
Jesus taught us to pray: “Forgive us for
doing wrong, as we forgive others...”. If we
want God’s forgiveness, we have to forgive, too.
What is
forgiveness?
• It is important to differentiate forgiving
from apologizing. I apologize when I did something wrong and I recognize my
fault. To forgive is when somebody did something wrong to me and I decide to let
it go.
Not forgiving produces bitterness, hatred. It
makes me remember the hurt and anger I feel towards the person that hurt me, or
disrespected me. Too many people hurt us every day by not respecting us , by
ignoring us, or mistreating us in many ways... we can not live without
forgiving. WE MUST LEARN TO FORGIVE IN ORDER TO LIVE. Unforgiveness damages our
health, our relationships, our work performance, it affects our sleep, it takes
away years of life, depresses us, it takes away the strength to live, to smile.
Unforgiveness hurts us, destroys us.
Unforgiveness is "Punishing yourself for something someone else did."
Next week I’ll share examples of
forgiveness. I hope you will be
inspired...
Daniel Martin
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