Can YOU Forgive, EVEN IF You CAN'T Forget?

[WISDOM]

SNS, tyvm for your reply.

It is good that you have reached that point because it shows an area in your Christian life whereby you've reached an eviable level of Christian maturity (I'm eating my heart out...

Honesty is the best policy in this area SNS.  The one thing that bothers me more than anything is to watch Christians go area with these facades/fake smiles and act as if everything is okay when they KNOW it isn't.  Do they think our FATHER doesn't know what's REALLY in their hearts?!

We're empowered through CHRIST and what HE did at Calvary ("Forgive them FATHER....", yet I don't think many of us realize that GOD also knows we're human and have a tendency at times to lean towards the "old man/nature" as Paul calls "him".  Whenever I find myself falling short of the mark set for forgiveness, I turn it over to CHRIST and ask HIM to give me a cup of HIS strength and power to forgive once more.

[Guest Sword N Spirit]

Wisdom , I said that NOW it is easier for me to forgive and forget THAN A FEW YEARS BACK, but still, in the natural, No, it's not easy to forgive and forget!

But is anything, as a christian easy? NO!

If we concentrate and focus on the real battle we are in (spiritually), (with satan), than it is easier to get our eyes off people as our enemy! And that makes forgiveness much easier! :thumb:

I also despise phoney people! We are not to go around acting as if we are above everything and everyone. But we need to be real with one another! That actually blesses each other to know we are all having difficulties in the same areas.

We all know the truth, that all of us go through the same things! There is no temptation that is not common to man!

God says to confess our sins, one to another, but how many of us actually do?  

I believe it will help all of us here to focus on the enemy as the one that is causing unforgiveness, and he is the one constantly bringing up the past, trying to keep us from forgetting the wrongs done to us. Not people!

God has given us the ability to forgive, we must choose to!

:thumb:

[WISDOM]

That's all I ask bro...just keep it real with me.  I'm not "Super Christian", nor am I a prodigy of the "Gimme That Old-Time religion" regime.  I'm a realist.  Enjoyed your post here and the ones I've previously read.  Keep it coming SNS.

[Guest Sword N Spirit]

Wisdom,

     Why didn't you think I was being real with you?

[WISDOM]

On the contrary bruh....I was speaking in the 2nd person.

YOU have been nothing but a straight-shooter, and that is refreshing!

[boblandis]

It is easy for me to forgive and forget. It makes life eaiser to have that burden off of your shoulders then to carry it in your heart.

[WISDOM]

You know me, always thinking...so here's another thought:

What is the most courageous act of forgiveness YOU have ever extended to another person?

[Lanakila]

I forgave my father for not really being a part of my life. He hasn't repented of this and still isn't much a part of my life to this day. It was difficult to forgive the past, but the present and future neglect is, extremely hard. I find myself getting angry at him and trying to retaliate by ignoring him back. Now I am sharing something personal here, but God is working on me and reminding me of how much I have been forgiven. Also, if I don't persue a relationship it won't exist and I don't want that. So its up to me to be the adult (sounds crazy Dad's an adult too) and keep the contact going. There is alot more to it, but this is the simple explanation of it.

[Guest Sword N Spirit]

It is easy for me to forgive and forget. It makes life eaiser to have that burden off of your shoulders then to carry it in your heart.

AMEN Bob! It is a choice to forgive and forget!

[WISDOM]

Lana....that's a tough one.  You hit a nerve because I went through a similar situation with my dad.  Problem was I didn't understand why until years later.  I'd blame him for my failures and taken all the credit for my successes.  When I gave my life to CHRIST, GOD opened my eyes to a side of my dad I had never looked at.  The battle he had with alcohol.  His struggles with it was a form of escapism for him from the pressures and responsibilities of both fatherhood and being a husband.

He was never at any of my games (baseball) as a child, and only one football game that I can remember.  But I didn't put into prospective the fact that he was working two (and sometimes three) jobs to keep clothes on my back, food on the plate I ate out of, a warm bed for me to sleep in at night.  None of these things crossed my thoughts until the HOLY SPIRIT opened the doors of my mind to them.  I hated my dad before this.  But once I was married and had my wife and I had our first son, he (my son) became the "icebreaker" for my dad and I.  It was the first time my fatrher and I had become close in 13 yrs.  He held my son at age 9 mos and to see the twinkle in my dad's eye just melted all the ice around my heart.  

I embranced my dad and told him I loved him for the first time in 13 yrs at that point.  My mom's eyes were full of tears as were ours.  For the first time I appreciated all my dad ever did for me and how much he struggled with the alcohol.  This is really tough for me to write.

The reason is I left to go back overseas in Guantanamo Bay Cuba.  Six weeks later my dad died of a massage heart attack.  It tore through me for a long time, Lana...a long time.  But I forgave here before it happened, and I even shared the Gospel with him before I left to go back overseas.  I left him with some gospel tracts and prayed for him.  One of my greatest desires is to know if he made it to Heaven.

Time waits for no one.  I've learned that the people we hold dearest to our hearts, whom we may have some adversity with need to be dealt with while there is still hope.  Do what YOU have to do with your dad.