Forgive Me
I have just finished reading what Paul Meyer has to say about this misunderstood topic on Forgiveness in his book, “forgiveness.. the ultimate miracle”. When I first saw the book, my first impression was, “mine what a wrong title. How could forgiveness be anything but a miracle?”. Oh boy, what a wretched soul am I to belittle this sacred word!
Personally, this topic seems very read-alicious to me! (new word coined by yours truly!). I grab this book with no hesitation and read it in no time. It has probably been a four hour endeavour which then perhaps had rippled into many, many days of deep thoughts on my end. After which, I went down on my knees to hear what the Divine One has got to say about this.
It was a very comforting book to read, in that it comforted me. It makes the process of forgiveness much easier to understand, and perhaps have helped to speed up some healing process for a random person like me.
But the one thought which I would really like to pen down is this. Paul Meyer said, forgiveness is a choice we make, repentance is a choice of the offender.
A few days after reading this book, I came across a scripture in Luke 23:34 that says, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing”. As Christians, we forgive FIRST, even before an apology is made. Jesus forgave his tormentors, although they made no apologies for their actions. Although they scorned him, and spite him, he prayed for them.
Likewise, do we forgive only when the offender commits an apology? Should there be forgiveness even though an apology is absent?
Forgiveness sets the offended free and restores God’s joy. Forgiveness is not a sign of weakness, but of strength and maturity. We reflect Christ’s humility when we say, “I forgive you” although the other person says, “you’re a loser!”.
Sigh… this reminds me so much of what a good spiritual friend once said to me, “to die on the cross daily also means to be on a losing end.. seemingly”.
But having said all that, does this give the offender a sense of liberty to walk all over us? Certainly not. But that is something to be thought of and penned down for another day!
Goodnight for now!
