The Art of Forgiveness

My dad had a fantastic sermon today. I should point out that I know it's not his words, but the Lord's and the Lord's words really, really hit home for me today. I hope this is one sermon that I can remember all my life. The title of it was: "Warnings You Need to Heed: A Hard Heart" but in a nutshell it was all about forgiveness. I'll be the first to admit, I can hold a grudge with the best of them, but I'm determined to change my ways. I know I can not do this without Jesus and without lots and lots of prayer, but today's message really convicted me. I don't want to live with a chip on my shoulder, with a grudge, with hate in my heart and I certainly do not want to have a hard heart, but in certain circumstances I find myself leaning farther and farther that way. In my dad's sermon he outlined three steps to take in the Art of Forgiveness. I wrote them down (yes, I take notes every once in awhile!) and wanted to share them:

The Art of Forgiveness
1. Go First
2. Trust God
3. Strive to become more like Jesus

That's it! Just three steps, but those three steps pack a punch!!

Go First - Who ever wants to be first in admitting they were wrong and asking for forgiveness or on the opposite end, who ever wants to be first in giving forgiveness to someone we think has wronged us? We want them to be the first to come to us and say that they are sorry. I'm convicted. I hate being wrong. I really do, so I'll stick it out to the bitter end, determined not to cave. So, I don't know that I will necessarily remember, in the heat of the moment, to abide by the "Go First" rule, but I sure hope that the Lord will (gently!) remind me that I need to be the bigger person, put pride aside and "Go First" in asking for forgiveness.

Trust God - definitely, 100% easier said than done!! I will testify to that :) Sometimes, I have faith that could move mountains and other times, I'm not even sure I have a mustard seeds worth of it. It's something I have to daily pray about. Trust God. Trust God. Trust God. I have to say it over and over and over again to remind myself to do it. It's a muscle that I must exercise every day. Just do it - trust God!

Strive to become more like Jesus - Wow, this is just as hard as the first two!! Daily and sometimes hourly, and yes - even some times by the minute, I'm asking Jesus for forgiveness of some stupid thing I've done or said or thought. This becoming more like Jesus is HARD!!! It's a full time job. I often wonder (being human and all) how God can keep on forgiving me when I do the same stuff over and over and over again. Being like Jesus entails not always getting my way, forgiving when forgiving is the last thing I want to do, being kind, being compassionate, giving of my heart, my time, my earthly possessions. It means inconveniencing myself for the sake of others, having mercy on others, loving those I don't want to love, going places I don't want to go and the list could go on and on and on. Do I really want to do this?! YES! I'm telling you this is what I want to do. That's a scary, scary sentence to write, because now my feet need to be held to the fire. I know I will falter and fail at this, but I really, really want to strive to become more like Jesus. I need to be reminded daily, hourly, minute-by-minute to forgive like Jesus forgives, love like Jesus loves and strive in every way possible to be just like Him.

If you'd like to hear my dad's sermon, you can! Just visit the church's website at Visitgrace.org and click on the media tab and then on "Sermons and Teachings". This sermon should be up in a few days.

I also wanted to leave you with a powerful act of forgiveness as told by CBS News. My dad also had this as part of his sermon. I first heard of this in a "People" magazine article. It's worth watching. It is a beautiful story on the power of forgiveness:

The Power of Forgiveness

May you be blessed mightly this week!