Unforgiveness

‘Forgiveness is the choice that pleases God every time.’
– Charles Stanley

Unforgiveness

“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I cancelled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

Matthew 18:32-35

The person who hurts most is the person who is not able to forgive. It is very easy for us to say ‘I forgive you’, but do we truly forgive from our hearts?

Jesus was able to have His last supper with Judas, knowing that he was about to betray Him. He humbled Himself to wash Judas’ feet and also shared the meaning of the broken bread and the blood at the supper, giving him the opportunity to come to Him in true repentance. But in the end, we see that Judas chose to take his own life.

In the reading today, Jesus also talks about a king who forgave his servant who owed him ten thousand talents, but the servant was then not able to forgive his fellow servant who owed him a hundred denarii.

What then can we do to forgive? First we must decide in our hearts and make the decision to forgive. Forgiveness is a choice that we make, even when we are feeling hurt. We trust the Lord to heal our wounds. Second, we depend on the Holy Spirit who is our strength. Lastly, we need to obey the Word which calls us to bless those who curse us and to pray for our enemies.

When we practice these simple steps, our Comforter who is with us will give us the strength to overcome.

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