I've been thinking, I know! It's dangerous, but hey, I like to live dangerously...lol. Not really, but you get the idea. Anyway, I've been thinking, and ya'll remember the verse that talks about praying for your enemies and those who persecute you and what not...(sorry, but I don't have a Bible on me and it's the thought that's coming that I want to be specific about - not trying to step on any toes) Well I've been thinking about what it takes for someone to be able to pray for someone who's hurt you.
Crazy as it sounds I've experienced my fair share, although if you're up for hearing me whine I'd tell you that it's really more than my fair share, but you're not and I wont so we're moving on. And I've recently realized the importance and the impact of that verse or set of verses. (I know this sounds like a topic change but it's not - bear with me) There's this song by a band named Barlowgirl where they sing about revenge. And how the only way to get free is to release the need for revenge that's been driving them for so long...That it's the only way to be able to move on with their lives, to be people again. And it occurred to me that the Bible has something to say about this. Now they're right. Completely. But then I thought about this verse and it occurred to me that when you pray for someone who's hurt you, no matter how trivial, it's an act of God. We're human, we say we forgive someone but then we whine and complain about it for like ever. (there you go Jason - I threw the "like" in just for you ;-p) And the simple truth of the matter is that we haven't forgiven them and we haven't "forgotten" or even moved on. We're still stuck on the pain and the wrong of what was done to us. And no matter how much we try to convince ourselves and others that we're okay and we have forgiven and all that we really haven't. You know "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" . . .
My simple point is that it takes character to pray for someone who's hurt you. It's an active decision that says "yes, that hurt but I'm turning it and you over to God so he can deal with you"... And let me say that it's hard to do. Someone told me that you haven't really forgiven someone if you still feel pain when you think about the wrong that they committed against you. And while I don't exactly agree, it bears thinking about. If it still hurts, than we're not letting God deal with it. We're actively saying "No! I can handle this better than you can and I don't need your help dealing with this so move over and let me drive." Which is sin. It's a slap in the face of God and it's just wrong. Having said that, and gotten off of my soap box, as Christians we're called to a higher standard. We're supposed to turn the other cheek and that whole bit. But do we ever really do that? Sure, we tell each other and we remind each other, but it's usually when it's a situation that's easy for us to say that to the other person in because we're not feeling the difficulty of it all.
By praying for someone we're interceeding for them and making that person, or persons take you pick, a priority in our lives. We're telling God that that person means something and we're asking him to take special notice of them. Like Jesus does for us. So I say to you again, isn't it hard to pray for someone who's hurt you?
Who have you forgiven lately? . . .
4 comments:
Nice to read your posts again, Rae :-)
The last person I've had to forgive is myself. That probably sounds prideful. But I do have a hard time "forgiving" myself, and often don't consider myself worthy of God's attention after sinning. All that WAS completely true...but isn't anymore. And YES, it is very hard to forgive those who have hurt you. It's another way that grace becomes so sweet.
Rae... deep thoughts, deep insights. Though you rambled, your rambled deeper and deeper into the glades of truth.
The best living example of true forgiveness that I have ever met is Grace Fabian. Grace was a missionary wife in Papua New Guinea, and her husband was murdered by a man from the village they lived in. Her story of how the Lord brought her to forgiveness was POWERFUL. Grace helped me understand that forgiveness is a process of turning the injustices cruelly committed against you over to God. Forgiveness is submitting revenge to God. Grace still has pain, but that is part of what makes her witness so powerful. For even in the midst of pain, she has a peace and a joy and a super-natural submission to God's good will.
So often when I pray the Lord's prayer, I can say "forgive me my debts" with a passion, but I become perplexed and bashful when I come to the next phrase, "as I also have forgiven my debtors". Many times I've been shaken by the realization that unforgivingness has crept in and become such a natural part of my life, that I don't even see or feel it.
On the other hand, I've been reminded time and again, that I have been greatly blessed to have so few debtors, to have so few wounds inflicted on me by others. And yet those wounds are opportunities for Christian growth. Oh, that I will be faithful when the wounds that are sure to come do come!
It's good to have you back. Sorry that I can't say that I knew you had been away. [Grin]
You can read a little more of Grace's story on my blog:
http://placeofparadox.wordpress.com/2007/01/20/grammar/
Sorry, the HTML code for my blogpost should be http://placeofparadox.wordpress.com/2007/01/20/grammar/
Okay, I really just wanted to swamp your comments page. The last word in that HTML code should be grammar/, not gran.
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