Emotional wholeness in the Bible Part 2
The second quality a person needs to be truly emotionally whole is forgiveness. Now, many people have a misunderstanding of forgiveness. They get it mixed up with TRUSTING again. Or RECONCILIATION. It is neither of these things.
Rather it is giving up your right to hurt the person back. To stay angry. Not to give it up, let it go.
The self talk a person says who is bitter, who refuses to forgive, is:
“They should be punished”
“It’s their fault, they deserve bad treatment!”
“I’ll hurt them back…”
“My feelings are the most important thing.”
Notice they are focusing on themselves in every case.
Self talk of a forgiver is:
“I’m not perfect.”
“I’m not getting what I deserve.”
“I’ll let it go.”
“It’s water under the bridge.”
“I choose not to hurt them back.”
What a relief it is to set it as your goal to forgive. We can’t always forgive instantly, because our emotions are slower to heal. But we can make it as a goal to forgive, and then re-forgive, and re-forgive, 70 x 7.
Scriptures, for those who like to look them up are: II Cor. 5:17, Eph. 4:20-32, Col.3:12-14, Matt. 6:12-15, Matt. 18:23-35, Heb. 12:15. All of them speak of the need to forgive, and the dire consequences of choosing bitterness. A bitter person struggles with self-righteousness, with forgiveness come humility and grace. Or maybe it’s the other ways around: humility and grace lead to forgiveness. Either way, the forgiver wins.
So, let’s copy the self talk of a good forgiver on little cards or post-it notes, and the Scriptures too. What a relief to receive the gift of being free from bitterness!
I have a blog on forgiveness from a while ago. Here is the link to it: https://cynthiagill1972.blogspot.com/2016/03/3-tips-of-forgiveness-that-you-and-your.html
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