Remember to forgive

I know, I know….If you read my last post you’re probably wondering why am I contradicting myself? Well, I’m not!  Please allow me to explain…

Though the title “Remember to Forgive” seems pretty self-explanatory, for a longtime, the phrase was foreign to me.  That is, I welcomed the receiving part of forgiveness, but steered clear of that other end. (At least I wasn’t going to be the one to fess up to a fault first)—-Yep, therein lies the problem.  

Perhaps it was pride, but I never really gave the “need” to forgive others a second thought.  Nah, it was just plain selfishness—  After all, I did mention I’d spent most of my life as a “vengeance connoisseur”so why would I think of others?

Today, the Lord directed my attention to Psalm 130:3-4: “Lord, if you kept a record of our sins, who, O Lord, could ever survive?  But you offer forgiveness, that we might learn to fear you.

The only faults I’d overlooked before were my own…

A lot of us still live that way, and though I’m no longer bound in this area, I realize how easily I could slip right back into that mindset.   Naturally, there are times when immediately offering forgiveness isn’t easy, but, soon a whisper in my heart urges me to “Remember.”

No, the voice is not reminding me to mull over the last time I’d been betrayed nor to regurgitate the  times I’d let “other things” go.  In fact, those are the things that are best left forgotten, but more importantly, the voice reminds me that I had been forgiven!

Yes, someone else thought of me and decided to give me another chance.  And not just my friends or family members, but I’d been forgiven by Almighty God!  Better yet, I’d been forgiven in advance!

So you see “remembering to forgive” has very little to do with what was done to you and everything to do with all God’s done for you! 

©2014 Nadia Davis. All Rights Reserved.