Been praying lately that The Lord would make me a vessel of forgiveness. Its a dangerous prayer and something Im not quick to do. The thing in me driving that prayer is the hope that He would know me by how well and how quickly I forgive. Trust me, I am not good at this, but if I really want to be like Him, really want to pick up my cross daily, that first step starts with I forgive... Lets dont sugarcoat this -- forgiving someone who doesnt deserve it may be the single toughest thing you and I ever do. Ever. Can you think of one more difficult? (I am not discounting my need for forgiveness. Thats a given and that need is great.) Forgiveness is love with legs and if Jesus has a signature, it is forgiveness. Last night, as Christy and I were saying prayers with the kids, I said out loud over my family and in this house -- and no, I didnt want to -- that I forgive whoever stole my flag. I realize it seems petty. On the surface, its a small thing. But, no matter how small, if I hold onto it, I might as well drink gasoline because the same thing is happening. Its eating me from the inside out. And for those of you who -- like me -- want justice, forgiveness doesnt absolve someone of getting the justice they deserve, it just puts God in the chair of judge. Not me. Im giving up my right to it, tearing up the IOU, when I say, I forgive... In a very real sense, it cuts me free of them. I also realize there are some of you who will read this with soul-deep wounds that I cant fathom. Youre right, I cant and I dont mean to make light of them with some short FB post talking about some jackwagon who stole my flag. Please dont read that into this. But, this morning, I wanted to go on record as having forgiven. Ive tackled this idea of forgiveness better and at greater length in a blog post which you can find below. charlesmartinbooks/blog/entry/my_big_steaming_putrid_pile
Posted on: Sat, 05 Jul 2014 13:50:36 +0000