Forgiveness is downright selfish! I know that that sounds wrong, but I can attest to the fact that it is a selfish move on our part to forgive. Why?
"Not forgiving someone is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die." {Author Unknown}
When we don't forgive we hurt only ourselves. Our offender normally doesn't suffer from our unforgiveness at least not to the extent that we do. Sure, if we are unforgiving and show it to our offender they will feel it, but really the person who suffers the most is us. Think about it, when you don't forgive someone they live inside your head!! I know this from experience. They are constantly in your thoughts. You ruminate over and over again about what they did to you or how you can get back at them. They never leave you! You become their prisoner even if they weren't trying to imprison you.
God asks us to forgive, because it is for our own good! Forgiveness is for us...not for the offender. The next time we are tempted to not forgive we need to remember that is a death wish, not for the one that hurt us but for ourselves!
1 comment:
a great article but easier said than done. I had a few people do something traumatic a couple years ago and it left me with a hole in my heart as well as anxiety attacks whenever I saw the people involved. It was difficult to see them in public.
I may not be very religious, but I do believe that you should forgive before you die, so you can get into heaven, but I've been trying, and I've asked for guidance and help forgiving, but I just can't. And what sucks the most is that I'm the only one suffering for it. Those people could care less. I don't know what to do. I've prayed, I've sought counseling, and I've read many books to try and move past this... maybe more time?
Anyways, thanks for writing this and here's my story if you are interested. http://www.kreativekaring.com/2011/04/full-story.html
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