Storms rock. There's the sunshine afterward to look forward to.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Forgiveness
I do not claim to be an expert on hurts. I may have had my own share of hurts, but I do realise that there are many who have felt much worse hurts than I have, and I even know one such person personally. But for the sake of this person, and the random people who may stumble upon this humble blog, I offer these thoughts.
No matter the seriousness, we all have been hurt by somebody down the line. If you have not, I'm sorry, but you are a robot. The difference between an emotionally healthy person and one who is not is that the emotionally healthy one is willing to forgive and forget the wrong done to him/her. Easier said than done.
Whether any of us realise it or not, what society has influenced humanity to think is that when one is wronged, one must seek revenge, act upon a vengeful spirit. The social stigma is that to forgive someone is seen as a 'cowardly' act and even if we do not personally think it is true, we fear the disapproval of those who think it IS true. And thus it takes an unbelievable load of courage to forgive all the ways one has hurt you, and sometimes it may even be yourself. Many's the time someone has jumped off a building, shot himself, ingested a whole bottle of sleeping pills, or misused his creativity to think up unique and unbelievably imaginative ways to kill himself, all because he was unable to forgive.
"It's impossible to forget!"
"How can I forgive such a wrong?"
"You don't know how much it hurts!"
Any of these sound familiar?
Any of these sound familiar?
Five years ago, once. Four years ago, twice. Three years ago, once. On all four occasions, I was hurt deeply or I hurt myself and lost all my self-esteem. The above three statements I did whisper to myself every night. I thought no one understood. Surely, everyone knew I was hurting, but no one knew the extent of it, how much my anger and bitterness threatened to pull me apart. I had no one I could turn to. Or at least, that's what I thought.
Five years ago, once. Four years ago, twice. Three years ago, once. Each time, when I could not stand it anymore, when my tears were so numerous they threatened to drown me, when I was ready to give up hope, I found someone who understood. Because I met him, and kept on meeting him in my darkest moments, I can type this today. If not for him, three years ago I might have really considered ending it all. (Bet you didn't know, eh, mum and dad? Sorry for the shock.) But who was this person I met? Let me tell you.
Jesus Christ.
I can sense it already. Some of you are already thinking: "Aw, nuts, one of THOSE people. Let's surf something else". I know there are such people. But please, I beg you to read further.
You say God does not exist? I beg to differ. I felt Him.
You say God does not care? I beg to differ. I live because He died for me.
You say God is not such a big deal? I beg to differ. Life is so much more fun with Him around.
Approximately 2000 years ago, God himself took human form, and came down to this very planet. For what purpose, you may ask? Jesus Christ came, pure, innocent, the only person alive who had NEVER done anything wrong. He came to be declared guilty of every crime man had committed, was committing, and would commit, and to receive our death penalty. Such was His love for us. While he was being killed, what did he say?
"Father, forgive them, they know not what they do." D'uh. How could anyone understand, at that point, what indeed Jesus was doing? After all, he could have just whistled, and angels could have come to set Him free. No, He had to die, so we wouldn't need to. He came back to life, three days after, on the very first Easter, after finishing his three day stint in the enemy's camp, hell, claiming mastery over Death. Claim it He did.
If you ever think you cannot forgive anyone what they did to you, remember this: You deserved to die. I'm sorry, it's true. You may say you're not SO bad, but to God, wrong is wrong. You deserved to die, but God came down in human form and took that penalty for himself. And you know what? He doesn't hold the slightest grudge towards you for that! Wow.
This Easter, if there is anyone you have yet to forgive, remember Jesus forgave you, and if you ask, He will only be too glad to help you forgive. I could not forgive the people who wronged me, nor myself for doing such a thing to myself, but once I found God, it became easy. When you know how much God loves you, you feel great and you can't help but love everyone in return.
For the random person reading this, I may not know you, but God does. I may not know your hurts, but God does. I may not have felt your pain, but God has felt worse. Take the step today, to let Jesus into your life, and see how powerful forgiveness really is. You may have rejected similar invitations before, and I ask, why not try it today? After all, you have nothing to lose, but everything to gain. If you take even one step towards God, I promise God will definitely take the rest of the steps to you.
For the random person reading this, I may not know you, but God does. I may not know your hurts, but God does. I may not have felt your pain, but God has felt worse. Take the step today, to let Jesus into your life, and see how powerful forgiveness really is. You may have rejected similar invitations before, and I ask, why not try it today? After all, you have nothing to lose, but everything to gain. If you take even one step towards God, I promise God will definitely take the rest of the steps to you.
Don't nurse a hurt, nor curse it, but disperse it to God, and I promise you with 100% confidence, He will reverse it. That, if anything, will give ANYONE strength to smile at each sunrise, rather than frown till sundown. Let God show you how not to be bitter, but a better person. Because I let Him in, I forgave the one who hurt me, I forgave myself, and now, because of this, I enjoyed yesterday, I'm loving living today, and I can't wait for tomorrow.
