I think one of the hardest challenges God put forth in front of me was to process the whole idea of forgiveness and then actually act upon it. For some time in my life, it was as if God followed me around and dangled the word ‘forgiveness’ in front of my face, everywhere I went. It’s like those people that hold signs by the freeway bridges.
That’s exactly how I picture it. I’m driving down the freeway, lost in my thoughts somewhere and then all of a sudden there’s a freeway bridge and Jesus is just standing there with a sign that spells out: forgive.
It’s funny because I once thought that I could forgive only certain people in my life. I thought, “If I forgive just there three people, everything will be fine and I’ll hold a grudge against the rest because they’re practically unforgivable.” Well, guess what, God forgives us everyday. Every single day we wake up and it’s a new day. A refreshing new day because we were already forgiven for yesterday’s sins. A refreshing new day because whatever happens today, we will be forgiven by Him, again. How comforting is that? To know that God will forgive us no matter what.
It’s funny how many times we ask God so easily to forgive us, when we seem to have the hardest time forgiving each other. So now, instead of asking for forgiveness all the time, I ask God to help me have a heart of forgiveness. That way, I can forgive everyone, including myself. I think Anne Lamott, an American novelist, puts it best, “If you want to be forgiven, if you want to experience that kind of love, you have too forgive everyone in your life – everyone… even, for God’s sake, yourself.”
To serve the Lord we must have a heart of forgiveness, so that we are able to forgive, completely.
