FORGIVE OTHERS AS GOD HAS FORGIVEN YOU

A Bible Devotion

Saturday, February 17, 2007

Forgive Others As God Has Forgiven You

COLOSSIANS 3:13 NKJ

13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.
Forgiving others for deep hurts seems to be one of the hardest things a human being can do. In fact -- very few are successful in forgiving.
Yet, in the Bible God commands us to forgive. Is God overly demanding, or...?
God is smart. That is why He commands us to forgive. (Also because He loves us and desires the best for us.) God knows how terribly destructive it is for us to harbor unforgiveness. Not forgiving someone can literally kill you.
Unforgiveness is a poison that eats away at your spiritual, mental, and physical health and life.
Knowing that, God strictly tells us to forgive. But how can we? We are just human, and we don't feel like forgiving when someone has wronged us severely.
(You may think it is impossible to forgive someone who hurt you. With God it is possible. He never asks us to do something we cannot do.)
The answer is in receiving God's help, enabling you to forgive. First, you must be "born again" spiritually by receiving Jesus Christ as Lord. That means you receive new life in your inner being, giving you a new nature -- a nature of love instead of selfishness.
Next, when you are wronged, you need to ask the Lord to help you forgive the person who hurt you. Having done that, you must make a firm decision to quit holding anything against that person.
Forgiveness is not a feeling but a decision to quit holding something against someone. When you forgive you must release them and forget it.
You must forgive by faith, after asking God to help you. Feelings always follow faith -- not the other way around.
How can we humans forgive others just as God has forgiven us? Having God's help is necessary. Only His love in our hearts can enable us.
You must forgive others -- no matter what they have done. To not forgive hurts you. You must forgive.
SAY THIS: With God's help, I will forgive others as God has forgiven me.

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