Forgiveness

Recently, I had the chance to apologize to someone that I had hurt many times. I walked up to her and said that I was sorry that I had hurt her, and if she would please forgive me. She said very little to what I said. At first I was disappointed; then I got frustrated and asked God why she didn’t forgive me when I asked her to. Why can’t we just make up our differences? But as I watched her walk away, God spoke to my heart. He said "Why do you need to have forgiveness now? Forgiveness is not about you. You are asking for her to forgive you. It may take time." I think in our world of instant gratification, we say that we are sorry and hope that it’s going to make it better. But what I have learned is that we have to wait. Jesus tells us to forgive 70 times 7. Matthew 18:22: “Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven’.” That's what we should do. But that doesn't mean that we need to have faith in the person that hurt us or even talk/like that person that did that to us. Although this girl did not forgive me in that moment, at least she understood that I was sorry for the actions that had caused her pain. I don’t know when she will forgive me, but I have done my part and now I can just wait and pray.

So the encouragement: Forgiveness can be tough to ask for and sometimes hard to give out, but if we look to Christ we see the perfect example of forgiveness. Not only did he die for our sins, but he forgave those who killed him. Luke 23:34: “Father forgive them for they no, not what they do.” We need to forgive no matter what, but as we are human, it may take time to forgive if someone has hurt us. And if we are asking for forgiveness, we need to be ready to wait. Forgiveness is less about your needs, and more about the other person. If seeking forgiveness is about us, then it becomes selfish.