A (For)giving Heart

One of the hardest gifts to give is that of forgiveness to someone who has hurt us.

God calls us to be givers. He wants us to bless others, but He doesn't necessarily mean in terms of material items. There are so many ways we can pour out little blessings, but one way we often don't like to think about is through forgiveness.

When someone hurts us, the last thing we want to think about is letting go of the anger and betrayal we feel. We don't want to give in--to forgive and forget. Holding on to it seems safer. We know if we don't forgive those who have wronged us, we will be less likely to find ourselves in that same or a similar situation later on; however, God commands us in Colossians 3:13 to "Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you."

Gift to Others

While forgiveness isn't always what we want to share, it opens us up to have a more giving heart. Forgiveness is a gift that we have to choose to hand out. No one can make that decision for us, and often, we have so much contempt for those who hurt us that we don't even want to think about it. This not only keeps us from sharing our love (and God's) with those who need it, but it also enslaves us to the negative feelings we hold toward individuals we feel have wronged us.

Gift to Ourselves

Because forgiveness is a prison to our hearts, letting go of that negativity is freeing to us as well as the ones we are forgiving. Sometimes, you don't realize that you have already forgiven those who have wronged you, and the person really needing forgiveness is yourself for feeling like you let yourself down or because you feel you often let others down. It is important to remember to grant grace to yourself and remind yourself that we all fall short sometimes.

In some instances, God is the one at the receiving end of our anger. We get angry for how he let a person use a situation against us. We are angry that He didn't answer a prayer. Sometimes, we even get angry that He did answer a prayer, but He answered it differently than we hoped He would. That anger, though wrongly directed, calls for forgiveness as well. Once we are able to let go of the anger we have toward ourselves, others, and even God, we can begin to reopen our hearts. I challenge you today to pour out forgiveness to whomever needs it in your life and allow God to pour into you.