Hope in The Freedom of Forgiveness

"To forgive is to set a prisoner free  - only to find out that the prisoner was you"
I like that!

But HOW?  It's "natural"  to hold grudges.

Only recently have I found more victory in getting rid of my tendency (actually my  SIN(s)!) of unforgiveness.
And  it's not natural - it's supernatural from the power of Jesus and His truths in the Bible.

I found it interesting that in  Matthew 18 Jesus speaks about little children, and in the same chapter He also deals with forgiving our brother who sins against  us 490 times.

 Little children forgive readily and quickly!  Their  humility no doubt contributes to this virtue.
"Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."
Matthew 18:4   (NAS)
Without humility  it is much harder to forgive others.
Humility involves dealing with the log in my own eye before thinking about the speck or splinter in others'.
If I have time to deal with others' specks, is it because I haven't spent the right amount of time dealing with my own logs?  Probably!

Fascinating to me that Jesus ends Chapter l8 with the story of the slave who owed his master $12 million dollars and that master out of compassion,  forgave that debt.  But then that slave refused to forgive a fellow slave a mere $17.00!

As I have slowly come to see how Holy Holy Holy God truly and in comparison to realize how sinful sinful sinful I truly am, it is sinking into my head and heart more and more that I owe God at least a $12 million debt.   But out of compassion, mercy and grace God forgave my debt by allowing Jesus to pay for it on the Cross!!

So how can I even consider for one second, not forgiving any other human who owes me a mere $l7.00 for say,  hurting my feelings,  or some other way that they displayed that they, like me, are imperfect   human beings.

(I realize there are many complicated serious situations in which we need to protect ourselves, set boundaries, etc when someone sins against us.  Today I am dealing with minor offenses that can result in holding grudges - which may turn into  bitterness if not handled quickly and properly)

Please leave a word or two as comment to let me know you've visited!