Often times, someone can apologize to us and it will still take everything in us to actually forgive them. So what do you do when you find yourself in a situation where you are forced to forgive without ever receiving an apology.?
For me, forgiveness has always been a tricky thing. It wasn't until recently that I truly understood the importance of it. Webster's definition of forgiveness is : "Regard without ill-will despite an offense.". Meanwhile, my definition was dependent on how sincere I thought the apology was. I never thought someone "deserved" my forgiveness when they did wrong, acting like I was doing them a favor if I did.
So when i came across Luke 7:47“…Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little" I realized how my love for people was effected by the bitterness I held in my heart. How it was impossible to love completely, when I'm carrying anger. It made me also think about how God will forgive us for things we forget to apologize for or just plain don't even acknowledge we were wrong. The only way that God can love us how he does is because of the fact that he has completely forgiven us, apology or not. When Jesus was nailed to the cross he asked God to forgive us (Luke 23;34) that shows how important and vital forgiveness is to our well-being.
Letting go is not easy, in fact it can be the hardest thing in the world,but you have to get to a point where you love yourself enough to take the power back in your life. Forgiveness is NEVER for the other persons benefit, it is always for you. Gods love for us is perfect and pure, and in our mission to be Christ-like we must forgive so that we can love to our full potential.
Take a moment right now to forgive anyone for anything, no matter how big or small. Thank God that his Love covers all, and Most importantly thank God for his Forgiveness because with out it we would never be able to have a relationship with him.
