>for the past few weeks, the pastor at my church has been teaching in a series called “it’s about time…”. each week, he adds, “for…” and whatever the topic is for the week. there have been some really powerful thoughts and ideas in the teachings, so i thought i would make them more widely known.

“it’s about time for…forgiveness”

“if you could lick my heart, it would poison you.” (holocaust survivor)

we can find release in the freedom that only forgiveness can provide us.

forgiveness is not:

1) forgetting
2) excusing
3) smoothing things over
4) instantaneous

the only one who can forgive in a single breath is God.

4 stages of forgiveness

* suffering — stop running from what was done to you, acknowledge what was done, experience the pain and suffer. if you have done that, then consider the suffering as a gift. Paul wrote in Philippians 3:10, “I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings”. the larger the hurt, the larger the gift.

* surrendering your desire to get even with the person who has wronged or offended you. unforgiveness is a self-imposed torture that comes from the desire for control. revenge will not remove the poison that is in your heart due to hatred and bitterness.

* remembering the humanity of your offender. when we do not forgive, we begin to think of the person only in the context of what they have done to offend us. we forget that they are human. we need to rediscover that they are complex, weak, hurt and fragile people just like we are.

*reconciling with your offender, which is a process for some which is not possible. if you can, turn back the hands of time, heal wounds and move into the future.