The Confusion About Forgiveness
Forgiveness is a huge thing for our peace of mind, our quality of life, our happiness, and our capacity to be blessed. However, people often have a hard time forgiving.
This is because of a fundamental misunderstanding about what it means to forgive. Forgiveness is something we do for ourselves not something we do for that other person. Forgiveness is setting ourselves free. It is saying, “I don’t want to suffer about this anymore.”
Forgiveness does not mean that what the other person did is okay. It does not condone their behavior. (People do things that are not okay, nor will they ever be okay. We can forgive someone and never interact with that person again. We don’t have to become best friends.) It simply means that we are choosing not to suffer about it anymore.
Our lack of forgiveness impacts us FAR more than it impacts the other person. It has been described as drinking poison or grasping a burning coal to hurt the other person – well that’s a defective strategy if ever there was one. We are the one who gets hurt.
Finally, how anyone else lives his or her life, is between that person and God. So, when we forgive, we release ourselves from being some sort of prison guard who needs to make sure they get punished (not our dream job) and we release them to God.
Is there anyone you need to release and forgive – and in the process set yourself free?
Much Love,
Jonathan
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