Kingdom Life: Forgiveness
For you are the Lord Most High,
of great compassion, long-suffering, and very merciful,
and you relent at human suffering.
O Lord, according to your great goodness
you have promised repentance and forgiveness
to those who have sinned against you,
and in the multitude of your mercies
you have appointed repentance for sinners,
so that they may be saved. ~ Prayer of Manasseh 1:7
Forgive us our debts as we have also forgiven our debtors. ~ Matthew 6:12
I will heal their disloyalty; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them. I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall blossom like the lily; he shall strike the root like the forests of Lebanon ~ Hosea 14:3-5
Forgiveness does not erase accountability. It is not about turning a blind eye or even turning the other cheek. It is not about letting someone off the hook or saying it is okay to do something monstrous. Forgiveness is simply about understanding that every one of us is both inherently good and inherently flawed. Within every hopeless situation and every seemingly hopeless person lies the possibility of transformation. ~ Desmond Tutu
During this upcoming Lent at Grace we will be taking a pretty comprehensive look at forgiveness, so a little preview as to how important forgiveness is as part of God's kingdom.
You could say that Desmond Tutu is pretty much an expert at forgiveness. His story, as well as the story of South Africa itself, is one of both oppression and freedom.
That freedom came hand in hand with forgiveness.
Forgiveness in essence IS freedom.
Anger and resentment and a desire for retribution can imprison us. Forgiveness sets us free.
Forgiveness, as Tutu says, does not erase accountability or ignore the hurt that has happened. Instead, it frees us from having that hurt rule our lives.
An image I love about forgiveness is that of a river. Rather than take the Lord's Prayer's words as an "if-then," (as in IF you forgive, THEN I will forgive you), I see forgiveness as a flow of water that God pours and that runs through us to continue to poured out into the world. It is something God has shared that we continue to share in a continual stream.
Rather than an "if/then, forgiveness becomes a "so/that" (as in I have forgiven you so that you may also be able to forgive).
Prayer: Let your stream of grace and forgiveness flow through me, Lord, to free me from the bonds of resentment that may linger in me.
of great compassion, long-suffering, and very merciful,
and you relent at human suffering.
O Lord, according to your great goodness
you have promised repentance and forgiveness
to those who have sinned against you,
and in the multitude of your mercies
you have appointed repentance for sinners,
so that they may be saved. ~ Prayer of Manasseh 1:7
Forgive us our debts as we have also forgiven our debtors. ~ Matthew 6:12
I will heal their disloyalty; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them. I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall blossom like the lily; he shall strike the root like the forests of Lebanon ~ Hosea 14:3-5
Forgiveness does not erase accountability. It is not about turning a blind eye or even turning the other cheek. It is not about letting someone off the hook or saying it is okay to do something monstrous. Forgiveness is simply about understanding that every one of us is both inherently good and inherently flawed. Within every hopeless situation and every seemingly hopeless person lies the possibility of transformation. ~ Desmond Tutu
During this upcoming Lent at Grace we will be taking a pretty comprehensive look at forgiveness, so a little preview as to how important forgiveness is as part of God's kingdom.
You could say that Desmond Tutu is pretty much an expert at forgiveness. His story, as well as the story of South Africa itself, is one of both oppression and freedom.
That freedom came hand in hand with forgiveness.
Forgiveness in essence IS freedom.
Anger and resentment and a desire for retribution can imprison us. Forgiveness sets us free.
Forgiveness, as Tutu says, does not erase accountability or ignore the hurt that has happened. Instead, it frees us from having that hurt rule our lives.
An image I love about forgiveness is that of a river. Rather than take the Lord's Prayer's words as an "if-then," (as in IF you forgive, THEN I will forgive you), I see forgiveness as a flow of water that God pours and that runs through us to continue to poured out into the world. It is something God has shared that we continue to share in a continual stream.
Rather than an "if/then, forgiveness becomes a "so/that" (as in I have forgiven you so that you may also be able to forgive).
Prayer: Let your stream of grace and forgiveness flow through me, Lord, to free me from the bonds of resentment that may linger in me.