Practicing Forgiveness

Forgiveness could be instant if you genuinely love the person that hurt you. But the shock of being hurt by your loved one totally unexpectedly is extremely damaging. The wound takes time to heal. Do not get confused. The pain of being hurt is normal. With the serious pain, it feels like as if you have not forgiven the perpetrator. The guilt as a result of mistaking the pain caused by the hurt as not being able to forgive easily confuses us. The pain and the scar that is left behind for ever prolong the time to forget. Spend time to dwell in the love and forgiveness of God, you will feel better. If God could forgive you, who are you not to forgive others? The hurt is not sin. You have to genuinely love the perpetrator in order not to hate him/her and to be able to slowly let the hurt heal. God commands us to love each ther and love your enemy. This means that you can will to love. Using your will to obey God in loving your enemy and those who hurt you. Actually people do not just fall in love. (that is merely sexual attraction) To love somebody outside of sexual attraction takes the will. Many people know that Christ saves, but will they accept Him? If you love somebody who is sexually attracted to you, or worthy of your love, or could benefit you if you love him/her, that is not love. Again, God commands us to love those who do not deserve our love. That can be done only through the will. Therefore God commands us to love. Sometimes leaving the scene of the hurt may help. It is almost like a physical hurt, it will heal better if you pull the knife off the wound and bind the wound with healing medication. But the hurter, if he/she is a friend and if you love him/her, just act and love him/her as if he/she had not hurt you. This is Godly love, not from our nature. The Bible suggest that the two party should come together and restore the fellowship. Bring it to a closure. But it is not always possible. It is not easy, but to forget? I tend not to think so, because the scar is a permanent mark. God has a permanent record of what we have done in life. We are not free from the ill results of our sins. The presence of Christ and the Holy Spirit is like good medicine. It will cure the wound. But the scar will forever be there. David was forgiven, he confessed and repented, but he suffered from the results of his sins. (as in the case of Absalom, his son of his adulterous act.) God is looking for a contrite heart and soul. (like David's) His glorious presence can make the suffering from the results of our sins easier to endure. The blood of Christ covers all the sins we have committed at the Bema seat judgment day where we will receive crowns for Christ. Just try not to examine or touch (emotionally visit it again) the wound. But be sure to watch out for the next time that the same person may, knowingly or not hurt you again. We who are hurt should actively and gently seek to love the hurter and act as if he hadn't hurt you because God treats us like that. "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8.