Sometimes I post the Weekend Sermon and then later in the day I will think of additional things that I wanted to put in the sermon. Most of the time, I don't come back and change anything, but today I wanted to discuss the topic of forgiveness from our parable this week in a little more detail.
In the sermon, I mentioned that it is not always easy to forgive others, but it is what we have to do because that is the example that has been given to us by Jesus. There are a few instances in my own life when I have found it hard to forgive.
As I've mentioned on the blog in the past, I grew up in an extremely fundamentalist home. Growing up in this atmosphere made me so depressed that I almost gave up. When I was old enough to do what I wanted to do, I left that atmosphere and learned about the true Jesus and His love. The Lord allowing me to find my good friend Toby during this time really helped me.
Often, some of the bad feelings from these days creep in on me, and I find myself getting upset all over again. I've found that what I've had to do is just release all of this from the past and just forgive those who were so negative and mean when I was young. It is one of the ways that I've found to get past all of that. It's not easy.
Another time in my life when I found it hard to forgive was when one of my good friends and I had a serious disagreement. We didn't speak to each other for a long time. We'd been friends since we were seven years old, so we had shared many things in life. One day, I just decided that it wasn't right for us to be acting this way to one another. I decided to call him and apologize and try to make things right. We both forgave each other, and in the last few years that my friend was alive, our friendship was stronger than ever.
This friend of mine died last year. I am so glad that we reconciled. What if we hadn't? I don't like to think about that.
Now, there is something that I'm not sure I've forgiven someone for, and I am working on it with the Lord's help. When my friend Toby first came to live with me, he was in a sad state. His teeth were all messed up, and he had several chronic health problems. The worst thing is that he was afraid that someone would hurt him if he was sick and vomited. He had some serious gastrointestinal problems. Someone had been very mean to him just because he was sick. I've found it very hard to forgive the person that made him feel that way before he came to me. Someday I might be able to work this out. I keep trying.
Now, sometimes it is hard for people to forgive themselves. Sometimes we don't do the things that we want to do, and we don't live up to what we expect from ourselves. We just have to realize the we aren't perfect. All we can do is try to do our best as we rely upon the Lord to give us strength. The Lord knows our weaknesses. He is not looking to condemn us. He wants to love and help us. He will forgive us when we ask Him to.
The last thing I want to mention is that sometimes we have to let go of our disappointment with the Lord. I don't mean by this that the Lord has done wrong by any of us. What I mean is that sometimes our lives don't go the way we planned. The Lord has led us in another direction. We have to accept what He wants for us and not hold on to our own plans.
These are just a few additional thoughts that I wanted to add. I hope that they help in some way. Thanks for reading the blog.
No comments:
Post a Comment