Colossians 3:13
Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
Matthew 6:14-15
For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
As hard as it was to seek God's forgiveness, seeking forgiveness from people is even more hard.
We all have hurt others as well as done things ourselves that we think are unforgivable. I am the type of person that would never want to intentionally hurt someone, at least not when I'm myself. In fact, I am the type of person that would want to do the exact opposite. Instead of hurting someone, I would want to make everything okay for that person. I never want to be a burden on anyone but instead be the friend that lifts that burden or at least makes it easier to bare.
For me, the worse part about hurting someone is the fact that I tend to not just hurt someone that I don't know but I usually end up hurting someone that I do know. It's usually not just someone that I know either but someone that I care about greatly. It's been said many times that we hurt the ones that we love the most. It shouldn't be that way but for some reason it is.
As I have said in one of my earlier posts, there have been other people that have been in my life but I hurt them by being a person that I shouldn't have been and they are no longer in my life today. At the time, my only thought would be that they would simply just abandon me. While that is true of some people, there were also some that I know I pushed away because of the things I either said or things that I did or both. I really have thought that those days were behind me, yet I still have done it again. It is not something that I never planned to do. It is natural for someone that has hurt someone to make excuses for it but there is not excuse. It simply shouldn't have happened. Though I only have myself to blame, I still have to believe that everything happens for a reason. It is in God's ultimate plan for my life.
Asking for forgiveness from God is one thing but asking for forgiveness from a person is a whole different story because in the back of your mind, you know people are not as forgiving. I know for me, I don't even want to ask for forgiveness because I don't think I deserve it and I also don't want to seem presumptuous. I would never want the person to think that asking for forgiveness would make everything just okay because I know that it doesn't. Sure, in the long run, it is only natural to want to be forgiven. The person may be able to eventually but even if he/she doesn't, you can find comfort in the fact that you at least tried. All that is left for you to do is pray and hope that God touches that person's heart. If the person does choose to forgive, then be thankful. If he/she doesn't, then accept it and still be thankful that you had that person in your life. It's still a part of God's plan either way.
On the flip side, if I am the one hurt, I know that I would have a hard time forgiving someone who hurt me. I know my heart though. In the long run, if I truly care for someone, I would forgive him/her. It will just take time. It is important to forgive one's self as well.
Life is simply too short. People should not hold onto hate or resentment. It's hard but forgiveness is the true way to go. That is what God wants us to do because that is what He would do. As always, that's all I want is to live my life in a way that would not just be pleasing to Him but in the same way that He would.
To everyone who I have ever hurt, I truly am sorry. I love you all.
Comments