Extending Grace & Forgiveness

This morning during my devotion time I was reading from the book Fervent, by Priscilla Shirer. The chapter I read today was titled, "Your Hurts... Turning bitterness into forgiveness." First off let me tell you this book has been a blessing in my life. The way God has gifted Priscilla to write & reach my heart is life changing. Her book is full of scripture too. I love that. I don't need to hear someone else's opinion but I need to be pointed to the One who has the answers. She does that so graciously in her book.

While reading & praying this morning I felt God prompting my heart to blog about a recent experience where I struggled with forgiveness. I was hoping it was just a thought but the longer I kept reading & praying I knew it wasn't just a thought but a command that I needed to be obedient too.

Recently someone I have known for years said something very hurtful about someone that is very dear to my heart. I will not mention names & please don't ask. I'll be honest I was very angry & in my flesh I wanted to give that person a piece of my mind. How dare they say such awful things about someone I love. Things I had known about that person came into question & I found myself stewing over what I wanted to say to them, or playing out scenarios in my head of speaking my mind to them.

That's where grace & forgiveness came in.  Believe me my flesh didn't want anything to do with that, but my Spirit knew God was prompting my heart to extend the same grace & forgiveness to this person as Christ has shown to me for my sins. Colossians 3:12-13 "As those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you."
 I also love this next part that is out of the book Fervent. "Listen, God knows how to deal with sin. Our sin, their sin. When you choose to forgive someone, you're not wiping their actions away as if the bad things didn't happen, giving people a free pass from the harm they've caused. You're just sparing yourself the burden of working two extra jobs-being judge and jury for how justice is meted out in this situation. Why not let someone relieve you of the pressure-Someone who actually knows what He's doing? And Someone who's just waiting right now to talk with you about it?"

Amen for truth!!! Amen for God's persistent leading in our lives to bring us back where we can be in close, intimate relationship with Him instead of worshipping from a distance. Forgiveness doesn't mean that it was ok for that person to hurt the person I love. Forgiveness is leaving my hurt, their hurt at the feet of Jesus & resting in His work that He already completed on the cross. Forgiveness is obedience to the One who paid it all for me so that I could be with Him. As I prayed this morning I asked the Lord to genuinely help me to forgive this person. Not just to forgive them because that's the right thing to do, but to genuinely forgive them as a heart that wants to become more & more like Jesus. Galatians 5:1 "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."

Is there someone in your life that God is asking you to extend grace & forgiveness to? Dear friend, it is not easy. But if we want to become more & more like Jesus and have that same grace & forgiveness extended to us it is necessary. I encourage you to leave it all at the feet of Jesus and when the evil one tries to throw it back up again in your face(and he will) cling to Jesus my friend. What He did on the cross is enough to not only cover your sin but anyone who sins against you.