Forgiving.  It’s basic Christianity, right? It’s fundamental. It’s like a required course for all Christians, Forgiveness 101. You gotta take it. Every single student has to enroll in this class. So we take the course. We think we figure it out. We know we have to forgive in order to be forgiven. We breathe prayers, “Lord, I forgive __________.” That should cover it, huh? And then we find out that the course has a second semester, Forgiveness 102. So we enroll because we have to. We think we get the material and we’ll sort of have this stuff conquered. And then we find there is Forgiveness 201 and 202 and 301 and 302 and 401 and 402.  Then for those who will do the work there is Forgiveness 501 and 601 and so it goes.

It’s like peeling layers of an onion. There just always seems to be another layer. Those layers represent all the stuff in our hearts that keep us stuck, the things that keep us from growing, and the things that hinder us from really knowing God and really knowing ourselves.

Jesus told us that it was impossible to live in this world without offenses coming to us. We will be offended at times. We will be hurt by other people. And we will hurt and offend others ourselves. Dealing with these offenses is one of the ways God offers us to do our own soul work. By that I mean the kind of work that God invites us into where we own our own stuff, we discover our own our wrong patterns of thinking, and we allow God to reveal our own hearts to us.  Read more...

Enjoy this post? Share it with your friends by clicking the Facebook LIKE button..

Powered By Facebook Like Post Plugin