Ridgell's Originals

 I have to forgive.  No option if I want to be forgiven.  And I do.  God has forgiven me for so much.

But sometimes it is hard.  Here are some of my thoughts on hard forgiveness.

I have to really work at forgiving someone who does not repent.  Sometimes hard if they do, but when they do not even care what they have done...

I struggle with people that do not even acknowledge their sin, much less repent.

I even have a hard time with churches that do not deal with unrepented of sin.

There is a fine line between forgiveness and enabling someone.  Jesus said 7 times 70,  Wow.  

I know they are not getting away with anything.  If I forgive them but they continue in their sin, God will handle it.  If I don't forgive them, it really doesn't matter to them.

I have to be careful I do not confuse forgiveness, punishment, and consequences.  God can sort it all out.

But...

Truth be told, there are things I have done that are hard to forgive.  And some things I didn't do. 

But God forgave me thru Jesus.

He commands me to forgive.  Refusing to do that is another sin I have to be forgiven for, except, my forgiveness is dependant on my forgiveing others.

When I don't forgive, I can elevate myself above God.  deciding something is "unforgivable."  

And I actually may be spending eternity with a bunch of sinners.  You know, like me. And you.

Forgiveness is not the same as forgetting.  And there are consequences to sin that are not the same as forgiveness.  

Maybe forgiveness is about the choices I make when I do remember.  The choice to forgive.

We live in community in this world and will live together forever in the world to come.

Because of forgiveness.

So I will do the hard work to live out my forgiveness.

And I will do the hard work to forgive.

# posted by Steve @ 5:00 AM