Skip to main content

Forgiving Others

Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ, God forgave you. (Ephesians 4:31-32)

Forgiveness is not easy. It is a struggle to find it within my heart to forgive another person that has gone out of their way to hurt or harm me. But God commands it, so I try. If you read the bible, you can not escape the concept of forgiveness. Jesus lived a life of forgiving others. He directed us to "turn the other cheek" and not to live with an "eye for eye" mentality. He directed us to "love our enemies" and not just those that love us.  In the Lord's prayer he instructed us to pray the following: "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us".

I like to think that I "turn the other cheek", "love my enemies", and "forgive those who trespass against me" but I don't. At least not in the way that Jesus did.  If I was betrayed by my closest friends, rejected by my own people, beaten, ridiculed, mocked, and crucified, the last words I'd be saying in my last breath is "Father forgive them for they know not what they do!" My words would be a bit less loving I shudder to say.

For example, take my trip home from Chicago this past Friday night. It was a day after hurricane Floyd pummeled the east coast and I knew the plane back to Newark would be packed. I had a reserved window seat, and when I went to the agent she switched me from 5A to 4E. In my mind, this seemed like a vicious, cruel act on her part. How could she switch me from my beloved window seat to a dreaded middle seat (B & E seats are always in the middle)!  I begged her to give me my reserved seat but she said the seat was already taken. Being the Christian man that I am, I kept my mouth shut and calmly walked away. But don't pat me on the back just yet. Under my breath I was cursing her up and down. I fumed for the next two hours awaiting the dreaded middle seat in a packed plane. As my row was called, I slowly approached the ramp in disgust, and boarded the plane. I glanced to my right and counted 4 first class rows. As I moved closer to row 4, I saw 4A, 4B, 4D, and 4E. There was no C. The agent had switched me to a first class seat - I was furious with her for the past hour when I should have been singing her praises! I then stopped to think what Jesus would have done if he was in my position. It made me realize that not only do I not "turn my cheek" as He instructed, but there are times in my life when I'm the one throwing the first "punch".

Popular posts from this blog

Farewell Neighbor

Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law? And he said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets. (Matthew 22:36-40)   25 years ago, I flew in from New Jersey for an important weekend in Minnesota. Dee and I had 3 house showings lined up with our realtor in the hopes of buying our first home together.  The first one we looked at had a great exterior, but we weren’t fond of the inside.  The second one we desired even less, putting all the pressure on the 3 rd  and final one we were going to look at.     I can’t recall how many prayers I said, but I’m sure they were plentiful.  If that 3 rd  showing didn’t work out, I’d have to schedule future trips to Minnesota and go through the pro...

Face Down

After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.  Then they carried the ark into Dagon's temple and set it beside Dagon.    When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the  Lord ! They took Dagon and put him back in his place.   But the following morning when they rose, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the  Lord ! His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold; only his body remained.  (1 Samuel 5:1-4)   2025 has been a challenging year right from the start – with a variety of issues and battles thrown our way, one after the other.  From a work perspective, it hasn’t been much better – I’ve been assisting with a project that by the time it’s over will likely be the second worst I’ve ever been on (only to be eclipsed by the project detailed in 2004 in "...

The 25th Wedding Anniversary

“He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the Lord.” (Proverbs 18:22)   July 1st marks Dee and my 25 th  wedding anniversary.  How could time have gone so quickly?  It seems like just yesterday Dee was walking down the aisle, and here we are looking back at so many years gone by.     Those years have been filled with not only many mountain-top moments, but also times of hardship and sorrow.  Thankfully, those difficult times have helped bring us only closer.  As time has gone by, we’ve navigated toward doing almost everything together – we’ve found through times of separation, we simply work better together as a team.     The success of that team is not a mystery to us – on day one we put Jesus at the center of our marriage and there He shall always remain.  Oh, the many times He’s been there to right and steady our ship as its sailed thru stormy seas.    I’d be remi...