Forgiveness

Forgiveness.  Just like to talk about the subject, a bit.  Over the years, I have heard much preaching on the idea: that if one says that they have forgiven someone, but still holds the memory of what someone may have done to ‘us’, one hasn’t really forgiven that person who we feel wronged us. I don’t agree with that idea….although once upon a time, i succumb to that idea, also.
 
I happen to practice Catholicism. And ‘we’ have often been said to be: following the ways of man, rather than the ways of God. *smiles* Yet, I find the idea that I stated in the above paragraph to be: a way that man may think; not how God thinks.  I haven’t discovered anywheres in Scripture where it says anything other than: when we ask for forgiveness with a repentant heart: we are forgiven. Period. It’s that simple.  I could quote many passages of Scripture where that what God says, in different words: if we ask to be forgiven, we are forgiven. If we forgive others their sins, they are forgiven: As Jesus says in the: Our Father. *smiles*.   
 
A diairst has recently mentioned the Scripture:
 
 Ephesians 4:26 says:  "When angry, do not sin; do not ever let your wrath (your exasperation, your fury or indignation) last until the sun goes down."  So, that means that it’s ok to act human: to be angry, to have memories that may still haunt us because of unpleasant experiences. But we dont’ have to act on our angry and cause others misery; although one can still be angry, and cause others misery: if suppose: a message is being preached that people are sinning, and the sinners don’t like hearing the message, such as what Jesus was saying to the pharisees. *smiles* 
 
 I think that there are many lessons to be learned when we feel that someone has sinned against us: and we may not want to forget that lesson. It would be healthier for us to let go of any anger. But that we still have the anger that may surfaced: doesn’t mean that we haven’t forgiven a person. It means that all wounds take time to heal…unless they are instantaneous miracles. *smiles*  And usually, I wouldn’t say that there are ‘that’ many of those kind of miracles. Miracles are experience by all of us, but they oftentimes take time before we are fully healed from our afflictions.
 
I think that there is ony one person that can: forgive and just forget how one was wronged. And that person is God.  Since he has a divine nature: his thoughts and ways: are far above our thoughts and ways.   Although Jesus had a human nature, we could say that he always acted in a manner described in: My Joshua entry:  His secret, which he lived himself, was in forgiveness, a forgiveness so complete that it never even allowed itself to take offense. And that is the key to peace, personal peace and peace among peoples-do not allow yourself to take offense. Always try to understand why people say and do the things they do, the inner anguish that gives rise to those things, and then it is hard to take offense.  So, even when Jesus dwelled on earth, those who wronged him were immediately forgiven and their sins forgotten if they repented, for they knew not what they did.

 
In my book: God’s Treasury of Virtues, it says the following,
 "We need to know that there are two kinds of love: the love of feeling and the love of willing.  The one lies in the emotions, the other in the will.  The love the Bible enjoins is not the love of feeling; it is the love of willing, the willed tendency of the heart……the will is the automatic pilot that keeps the soul on course.  The will, not the feelings, determines moral direction.  The root of all evil in human nature is the corruption of the will."
 
I say that just as we: will to love, we will to forgive; forgiveness is of the heart. Or we can say, the more we choose to become like Jesus, forgiveness can also be the willed tendency of the heart, like love will be. What feelings that we may have after we have willed to forgive: may be feelings that just have to work its way out thru the healing process of time. It’s just not right nor good: to put a condition on forgiveness. We have to rely on the willed tendency of the heart, which at the heart of it all: is forgiveness and not emotions that may give rise to feelings that seek to condemn us, or keep us away from the Lord, Jesus!