Forgiveness

Ephesians 4:32: Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Welcome back to another inspirational moment from historical Christian romance novels.

Ahh forgiveness. Something we eagerly accept yet struggle to give. It’s natural that when someone hurts us, we put up a wall to protect ourselves. The problem is that wall keeps us from being able to forgive the person who wronged us.

In the novel The Heart of a Cowboy Flynn has to work through forgiving his brother Wyatt.

Flynn pushed aside the bitterness toward his older brother as he’d done earlier when he’d been praying. Maybe it was time to let bygones be bygones. (p. 196 The Heart of a Cowboy by Jody Hedlund)

Remember in Matthew 18 Peter asked Jesus how many times we should forgive those who have sinned against us. Jesus replied by saying, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” Ouch, that seems like a tall order especially when the same person continues to hurt you.

Forgiving someone does not mean you give them your trust again. Rather forgiving them frees you from harboring ill will toward them and allows you to move on. Whereas being unwilling to forgive holds you hostage. Once you forgive someone, you can be wise in how you interact with them in the future.

I will leave you with this thought: Holding on to bitterness hurts you and does nothing to the one who wronged you. Yet forgiveness sets you free and blesses the one who hurt you.