Forgiving others who have hurt us may be one of the hardest things we have to do in life.
This is from a sermon series by Rick Warren given to us as we began Celebrate Recovery on Wednesday nights at Sierra Pines Church. Here are some simple but profound insights about unforgiveness.
“Thinking of that person, that former girlfriend, boyfriend, former husband or wife, teacher who embarrassed you in school, or parent who never told you they love you, that person you were dating then just dropped you and never said anything about it, you hold all that. It drains your body of energy. You need to forgive those that hurt you, for your own sake.”
“3. I forgive because I will need forgiveness in the future.
Mark 11:25: ‘When you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins too.’
In the Lord’s Prayer we read, ‘Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.’ We’re saying, ‘Lord forgive me as much as we forgive everybody else.’ Do you really want that?
You need to forgive other people because you’re going to need forgiveness in the future and you don’t want to burn the bridge that you’ve got to walk across. Forgiveness is a two-way street.
A guy came to John Wesley one time and said, ‘I can never forgive that person. Never.’ John Wesley said, ‘Then I hope you never sin because we all need what you don’t want to give.’ Don’t burn that bridge that you need to walk across.”
For Rick Warrens first two reasons to forgive our offenders check out our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/answersfrommomanddad