Originally posted on August 3, 2009 as "Like a Misty Dawn"
"Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you,..." Colossians 3:13
So what can be said about forgiveness? It is such a gray subject. It is often difficult to see how some actions can be forgiven. Accidents, mistakes, blunders, and sometimes bad choices, even stupidity is at the top of my list of easy things to forgive.
Betrayal, cruelty, deception, and coercion (among other things) … Those are the things that are at the top of my other list… the list of things more difficult to forgive.
All in all, I find it pretty easy to forgive. Although, I admit that I have a grudge or two that I continue to work on. Sometimes forgiving is as easy as forgetting…sometimes.
We all have histories that need forgiving; skeletons that need forgetting. We’ve all been blind-sided by events that left us staggering back on our heels nearly tumbling over in disbelief.
On those days, truth comes at us like a misty dawn and reveals what was covered by darkness and grayness of the night before, retreating in the growing light of a new day. It is a painful day; sometimes a cruel day. Hurt like none we can ever imagine. We bleed like we’ve never bled or thought that we ever could.
We all have histories that need forgiving; skeletons that need forgetting. We’ve all been blind-sided by events that left us staggering back on our heels nearly tumbling over in disbelief.
On those days, truth comes at us like a misty dawn and reveals what was covered by darkness and grayness of the night before, retreating in the growing light of a new day. It is a painful day; sometimes a cruel day. Hurt like none we can ever imagine. We bleed like we’ve never bled or thought that we ever could.
With the day comes a "gut-punch" leaving us dizzy and wretching. Sometimes the day brings so much anger we see stars appear and burst like bubbles before our eyes leaving our heads pounding, our stomachs turned upside-down, and our ears deafened by the roaring of our blood boiling.
So what can be said about forgiveness? Is it given flippantly without care or concern? Sometimes it is. Sometimes we hide behind forgiveness because it’s more difficult to confront those who left us burning in a heap after the crash.
Forgiveness, though it can be offered freely, still has a cost. In order to receive it, it requires one thing. It requires that we change.
Forgiveness leads to restoration. But for restoration to complete itself there must be accountability. There is a blessing in the asking... both for those asking and those being asked.
To be truly forgiven and to live in a restored relationship we must ask. It requires us to turnaround. It requires us change the very way we think, see, and treat others.
One more time… It requires changing the very way we think, see, and treat others.
After all, what good is forgiveness if there isn’t change? I can do the same thing over and over again without consequence. And yes, I can forgive the same person again and again, and again. I’ll continue forgiving “Seventy times seven” times. That’s four hundred and ninety times, in fact.
We can forgive. We can be forgiven. That’s easy. What’s hard is paying the price. When we are treated badly by others, we don’t like it. Here’s a newsflash…God doesn’t like it either! But he forgives us anyway. The only thing required of us is change.
Like a day that begins with a misty dawn that changes into a new day, undefined by the grayness of the night before. It can be something new all of its own; separate from it’s relationship to the night...full of light and life.
So what can be said about forgiveness? Is it given flippantly without care or concern? Sometimes it is. Sometimes we hide behind forgiveness because it’s more difficult to confront those who left us burning in a heap after the crash.
Forgiveness, though it can be offered freely, still has a cost. In order to receive it, it requires one thing. It requires that we change.
Forgiveness leads to restoration. But for restoration to complete itself there must be accountability. There is a blessing in the asking... both for those asking and those being asked.
To be truly forgiven and to live in a restored relationship we must ask. It requires us to turnaround. It requires us change the very way we think, see, and treat others.
One more time… It requires changing the very way we think, see, and treat others.
After all, what good is forgiveness if there isn’t change? I can do the same thing over and over again without consequence. And yes, I can forgive the same person again and again, and again. I’ll continue forgiving “Seventy times seven” times. That’s four hundred and ninety times, in fact.
We can forgive. We can be forgiven. That’s easy. What’s hard is paying the price. When we are treated badly by others, we don’t like it. Here’s a newsflash…God doesn’t like it either! But he forgives us anyway. The only thing required of us is change.
Like a day that begins with a misty dawn that changes into a new day, undefined by the grayness of the night before. It can be something new all of its own; separate from it’s relationship to the night...full of light and life.
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