Something seems to be coming up a lot lately around family and friends, which is forgiveness. There have been a few situations lately where either I or the people that I know and love have to forgive others for either something that another person is doing or has done to them in the past. Unforgivably and bitterness go hand-in-hand. When we choose to hold onto things, and to not forgive another person who has wronged us, or continually wrongs us, it turns into bitterness. That bitterness, I believe, gives satan a foothold. He uses it to turn our hearts hard, giving him control to turn it into hate.
"Make every effort to live in peace with all men and be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many." Hebrews 12:14-15
Hebrews tells us that it takes effort to live in peace with others, and that no person should miss the grace of God (grace is given to us when we don't deserve it, as others may not "deserve" our grace). It also tells us that bitterness becomes a root, and that it can grow in us, and not only defile US, but MANY.
As followers of Christ, we cannot live in His light having such a terrible root inside of us! Colossians 2:7 makes it clear that we should be living in Jesus, rooted and built up in HIM. Forgiveness may be something that we do one time and no more, or daily. But whatever it may look like in our lives, we cannot live our lives to the fullest while we haven't let others' wrongs against us go. Every single person on earth falls short of God's standards, so that means we ALL need forgiveness. We kid ourselves when we think that the "other" people are the ones that need our grace; we might be more inclined to extend grace when we remember our own shortcomings!
Pray that the Lord will help us to forgive. The spring school year for Baltimore County has ended, and now I am working as a teacher in various classrooms at The Delrey School for summer school. I hope you all are enjoying summer so far!
