Forgiveness

Let's face it. Forgiveness can be one of the hardest things to do in a Christian walk. Admitting you wronged somebody and asking their forgiveness can be a humbling moment in anybody's day, or even putting aside your hurt and disappointment to give forgiveness. Recently, God has been teaching me about forgiveness and I wanted to share some of that insight with you. Through this today, I wanted to focus on asking forgiveness and giving forgiveness; the main two aspects of forgiveness that can drive us to our knees or let us jump for joy.

I think its only appropriate to start this off with a story about 2 of my best friends: AJ and John. You've heard me talk a lot about John and it certainly won't be the last. My sophomore year of college John and his girlfriend of many years decided to call it quits. They had had enough. They were through. Dating someone that long tends to have feelings that go on for many months and years after. These thoughts or feelings can be even rougher when you see someone else dating your girl. This is their story. Now after sophomore year AJ and John moved in together to the same apartment and their friendship flourished. They had a bromance of bromances. The cooked together camped together, they even ate wings together. This all soon was to change. One weekend while John was away, AJ invited a friend over(John's ex-girlfriend). Well shortening it up a bit: there was an attraction and they started dating. Ultimately you could say this devastated AJ and John's friendship. John always felt awkward around the couple and ultimately a sense of despise. You can only imagine how John felt seeing his best friend date his ex-girlfriend. These are terrible feelings that I can only begin to imagine. Well, as the story goes, John and AJ go their separate ways. Society tells us that this would be the end of their story. That AJ did something which society says is beat up and John acted appropriately(according to society). When you have a relationship with God, society doesn't matter.

In 1 John 1:9, it says, If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse of all righteousness. What an amazing verse! Guys, I don't know if you realize how much we sin a day. It's terrible! Our hearts our incredibly wicked and want to pursue only our desires. BUT! How amazing is it that every time we sin and ask forgiveness we can have reconciliation with God! What's even more amazing is the fact that Jesus died to forgive us our sins before we even asked. He set the pattern on how we are to forgive. What I have been learning this week and in the past month. People aren't going to ask for your forgiveness. They're not and don't expect them too. It's a fact of life. When somebody does, be amazed. So what pattern did God set for our lives and his forgiveness plan? That we, as Christians, are to forgive others first. The idea is that because Jesus has forgiven us first that we want to reciprocate the same idea. Its the same idea in 1 John 4:19. "We Love because he first loved us." Let's paraphrase that into this lesson. "We forgive because He first Forgave us." Now back to my story. almost a year later John called AJ up on the phone and ended up apologizing for the way he was acting as well as for withholding forgiveness. To me that apology had some divine intervention to it. The relationship healed because John made a step towards reconciliation through forgiveness. Think about where you are withholding forgiveness from others. If we are withholding forgiveness from others, is this agreeing to the standard that God has set? Guys, if this seems hard, don't fret because it is. I encourage you to talk to Stephen, Zach or myself and just ask us about how God has forgiven us.

-K