March 2011 - Step 3



I am making a decision to let God help me change

and commit to working with Him to do so.



Sunday, November 16, 2008

Forgiving Others

Proverbs:24:29 And don’t say” Now I can pay them back for all their meanness to me! I’ll get even”!

Forgiveness is a mark of a changed life: If we have really changed and experienced true recovery (a gift from God) we will want to share it with others. By forgiving those who have harmed us we are not excusing their misdeeds. But we are recognizing that they are human, in spite of their failings they are created in God’s image and we need to love them as God loves us.

Forgiveness is not the pattern of the world: In these times of constant lawsuits and demand for legal rights. When someone hurts us the Bible tells us we must forgive them. Forgiving them may:

• Break the cycle of retaliation and lead to mutual reconciliation
• Cause the other person to feel ashamed and change their ways
• Hurt us just as much, maybe more than it does them

Forgiveness is an act of willingness: It involves both our attitudes and actions. How we feel and act towards someone who has hurt us. By telling the person how you feel and that you wish to heal the relationship can lead to the right attitudes and actions being followed by both parties.

Matthew 6:14-15 “if you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you, But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

If we want to be forgiven by God and by others we must begin by forgiving others. It’s what the Bible commands us to do

1 comment:

Tedw said...

Not only forgiving in the momement but relinquishing the resentment for past traumas in our lives. Most notably, forgiving our parents for their failure to do right by us as we were growing up.

I recently realized how deep and unconscious these resentments can be. For me the key to overcoming them has been to realize the compulsivity of others.

Here is a link if anybody is interested:

http://christianrecovery.blogspot.com/2009/01/overcoming-difficult-resentments.html