He forgives

Day 25...Love Forgives

Today's Dare: Whatever you haven't forgiven of your mate forgive it today.  Let it go.  Just as we ask Jesus to "Forgive us our debts" each day, we must ask him to help us "Forgive our debtors" each day as well.  Unforgiveness has been keeping you and your spouse in prison too long.  Say from your heart, "I choose to forgive."

This might be the hardest dare so far because forgiveness is something that we don't do naturally.  We are more likely to hold a grudge then forgive someone who has hurt us or done us wrong.  We tend to keep score in our relationships. We might say we forgive them, but we still are harboring some bad feelings about the incident.

We all are aware of how forgiveness is actually supposed to work, especially those of us that believe in Him.  We know that forgiveness is just a prayer away and when we are forgiven, we are completely forgiven.  No grudge.  No questions.  No judgement.  No tick mark in our column.  Its gone and done.  As far as the east is from the west. 

Mathew 18 talks about forgiveness. In the passage one of the Apostles asks, "Master, how many times do I forgive a brother or sister who hurts me? Seven?"  The answer was, "Seven! Hardly. Try seventy times seven." Now I'm no Theologian but what I get from that passage is that its so difficult to forgive and forget that we must do it over and over again until we get it right.  We need to grant our spouse, our friends, our family, our children, our co-workers complete forgiveness and if that means we have to do it over and over again, that that's what we need to do.

Plus if we harbor unforgiveness, then we can't expect to be forgiven as well. So, forgive and forgive well.  Its another important choice that we make in relationships.  Choosing to love means choosing forgiveness.