Have you ever had moments when you think I don’t know what I did?
In high school, at lunchtime, I went to sit with “my friends,” when I sat down, they all got up and moved. I do not know why I was treated that way or what I did.
How about family and friends? When they suddenly don’t contact you, you reach out to them, and it is “crickets” on their end.
The best thing I learned from these experiences is to realize I did the best I could with the knowledge I had at the time. Did I do anything in high school to deserve that treatment? Or why don’t the ones I thought my friend now talk to me? Am I going to sit and continue to try to figure it out? NO.
The Lord’s prayer says, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” This is found in Matthew 6:9-15. Be sure to look at verse 15, “But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” So, I choose not to be offended by them and to walk in forgiveness. I pray for them.
If I had chosen to hold an offense against them, I have heard it explained this: it is like being a jailer and having empty jail cells yet watching over them and checking on them. They have moved on, and you stay in the place of hurt/offense.
Do you want your Heavenly Father to forgive you when you mess up? So then walk in forgiveness to those who have hurt you.
Forgiving them doesn’t mean what they did was right, but it gives you the freedom to move forward. You and you alone can decide not to be the jailer. Here is what it does: God can work in BOTH of your lives. What?
God is the only one who can be the judge of the heart. So, letting go of those offenses frees you and allows God to work in your life. And, in theirs.
Choose to walk in forgiveness today rather than try to figure out or fix those times of offense.
IN HIM
Pastor Mary
www.momentswithpastormary.blog
Text to give: TITUS to 53-555