“Do not judge, and
you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive,
and you will be forgiven” (Luke 6:37).
The inability to
forgive someone is really judgment of that person. My anger, and even my hurt,
do not give me permission to judge. It certainly does not give me permission to
be angry. When I am devastated by someone's action, I have a
choice what to do with the disillusionment and hurt. If I allow that hurt to
define who I am, unforgiveness will take root in my heart. Then I will be in
bondage to my pain.
The
Holy Spirit invites us to acknowledge our pain so we might forgive. “Where the
Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom,” Paul writes (2 Corinthians 3:17). God
does not want us in bondage to hurt or disillusionment over someone's failure.
That hurt can become our own failure. I have the freedom and power to forgive.
God calls us to give our very
best, and that will not happen if there is judgment, hurt, and unforgiveness. My
very best is to allow His love to flow through me, and to intentionally love
with His love....no matter how I feel. His love will eventually change my cold
hurting heart into one that is pliable in His hands. Disillusionment and hurt
will dissolve, and I will be free from its bondage.
How
about you? Are you tired of the pain you feel when another person, either
intentionally or unintentionally, hurts you? Let the pain go. Let the
disillusionment and hurt go. Make a decision to forgive. Look to Christ as your
perfect sacrifice because no one else can be that. Realize that no one is
perfect. The Lord “will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit in you, and
will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel
36:26). Instead of a cold
heart of unforgiveness, you can have a heart of flesh that loves with His love.
Your heart will be completely His instead of your own. You will be free to love
instead of judge. Whom Christ sets free, is abundantly free.
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