Luke 23:34
Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."
In the early 2000s, I held resentment towards childhood authority figures. I had bad knees because of coaches who made me practice and play despite pain. I had bad credit because of no financial counsel. I had physically and verbally abused others because of witnessing and experiencing it. I had womanized because of rarely witnessing someone cherishing a woman. I had, I had, I had… Every problem that I was currently experiencing had a ‘paper trail’. It was not my fault, that I was so bitter, resentful, angry, and unforgiving. It was the fault of the parties who were to support and protect me. I was a child and a child should never endure some of the things that I did. There is truth in this statement; however, I was now a young man, who desperately needed some serious deliverance from all the current personal issues. ‘Pointing the finger’ at authority figures was not changing my outcome. It wasn’t until I started to let go of life letdowns that I began to change in a positive manner.
Choosing to do so was not easy, as there were constant reminders of pain and disappointments. The mistakes made as a child, teenager, and young adult had to be forgiven, as well. There had been many people that suffered the wrath of my selfishness. The selfishness was directly from self-pity from my own personal disappointments. The longer I thought ‘poor me, poor life, missed opportunities, etc.’… the more I self destructed and damaged the lives of others who cared about me or were involved in my life. This is what I learned most about unforgiveness, that is, it will (not may) adversely affect every relationship, including your personal relationship with children and spouse. It’s difficult for someone to understand unless they have similar life experiences; however, the reality is, we all have been not so forgiving at a time in our life.
A stereotypical product of unforgiveness is the common bully. In most cases, someone has teased the bully. The bully became insecure. Due to the bully's own insecurities, he/she responds in mistreating less fortunate individuals. The bully acts in a non-constructive way causing him to not reach his full potential. A constructive way would be to forgive his predator, no matter the offense, so that he may be released from the mental anguish and establish a positive mindset. You may say, ‘that is so elementary and easy to do’ or’ ‘I have tried it… it does not work’. You may even say, ‘I will never forgive the wrongdoing… That was just plain wicked, what was done to me.’ Maybe what you have not heard, no matter your current situation, is that Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit will grant you the power to forgive. Jesus Christ died that you may have eternal life in God’s presence along with giving you abilities through the Holy Spirit to accomplish His will. His will is for you to be Christ-like and forgive! He understands.
In being a sacrifice, He was innocent of the accusations. While being crucified, He forgave his accusers and punishers of the wrongdoings. If we desire to be free to perform God’s will and receive His ultimate blessing, we must do the same. As Jesus provided the example to forgive and fulfill His calling, make a decision today to release the offender and walk in God’s completeness.
If you desire to have a relationship with Jesus Christ, click on the link below.
http://www.cbn.com/spirituallife/BibleStudyAndTheology/Discipleship/Steps_to_Peace_With_God.aspx
