Unlocking our hearts

I write a lot about forgiveness because I believe it is the key to love.  If we cannot forgive we cannot love.  Ever been a recipient of unforgiveness?  It can do tremendous damage.  If encountered at a young age it will often produce a critical and unforgiving nature in the recipient.  It is crucial that we learn to forgive others quickly and deal with unforgiveness of others towards us in relationship to God's word. The bible teaches us forgiveness at every turn and it is crucial to recognize .  Without forgiveness there is no love. "Love as I have loved." " ... but I say forgive  77x7."  Seven - meaning it is finished, so forgive until it is finished.  We can only imagine the pain Peter felt looking into His Savior's eyes knowing he had denied him in the face of danger.  "Do you love Me?" "Then feed my sheep."  "Love as I have loved."  Yes the bible is pretty clear about forgiveness and thank goodness our God is a patient God.  Once we look at the struggles unforgiveness has caused us, we will see the imperative need to forgive quickly.  Not being able to forgive our adversaries hurts and robs us as well as those who hurt us.  It is indeed a lose-lose situation.  To top it off it is usually with people we love and know well that unforgiveness occurs.  Forgiveness is for us but even more for the offender and it is important to understand why. In our journey to sanctification, our mindset is to become one with Christ.  2 Corinthians 2:7 "so that on the contrary you rather forgive and comfort him, otherwise such a one might be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.  Wherefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for him."  Not forgiving others produces a critical, cynical, and bitter nature in us.  It will have devastating effects on us and worse yet it will do incalculable damage to others - and most assuredly to those closest to us. None of us want this but when we have been hurt we are not inclined to want to turn the other cheek.  We will never do it either if we count on our feelings to produce our actions, at least not at first.  First we must love Christ and desire His ways so much that we do not count the cost to us personally.  God delights in our desire and He fills our heart with joy we cannot find the words to explain. Forgiveness is full of great joy but we have to forgive with no strings attached but love to experience it.  Unforgiveness is a very bloody spiritual battlefield and we are all guilty to a fault, however we do not need to cringe into a ball and die once we look in this mirror.  It must be looked in and we must also look past the Crucifixion to the resurrection. This is God's unsurpassing grace and mercy poured out for us through His Son.  We are given a 'get out of jail free' card, but it takes time and experience to realize we need it.  

I will try to shed some light in the darkness we often find ourselves in.  Let's say as a child you had many experiences, a lot of them good and some you would rather forget.  People are not perfect and that is a devastating thing to learn as a child.  As we grow we need desperately to see with spiritual eyes to love, forgive and live life as God intended.  As children we are vulnerable and many lies take root whether we like it or not.  If we are fortunate enough to grow up with Christian parents we get to hear about Jesus at a very young age.  This can be confusing though. What? Just hear me out.  Say you have Christian parents, are they perfect and do you know their childhood?  Lies they believe as truths?  If they had parents who were not perfect (which they did) and you have parents who are not perfect (which you do) their actions, and our actions, will contradict at times the truth we are hopefully being taught at Church and in our time alone with God.  If you have a parent with a critical nature, it is easy to harbor unforgiveness towards them from your wounds.  However, if and when a parent looks and sees the pain caused by this nature inflicted on those they love, it will be a blow to their heart that will surely need love and forgiveness to bear. Here's the kicker: we are all guilty! How can we not forgive? For by forgiving we will learn to forgive ourselves as well.  If we do not, the pain we shoulder will be so overwhelming we may never recover. Forgiveness is critical to all of us.  Jesus doesn't teach it for us to become calloused and ignore the pain; no we must indeed feel it.   "We are crucified with Christ ..."  If your parents love the Lord yet fall short (which we all do) rejoice, for we all must die to sin to live with Christ.  You have been loved by their faith in Christ, even though they fall short. It would do us all good to think on this.  We will all see clearly one day the joy we receive from the lessons we learn.  We do not wish in our heart to grieve one another, this is proof of Christ living in us.  Even when it hurts let the pain come and be quick to forgive and God's grace and mercy shall flood our hearts with healing and light.  You cannot be healed any other way, and we are crucified with Christ to our sin so we might live.

Heavenly Father   Let us be more fully aware of Your spirit.  Let us not shy away from being transformed into Your image.  Let our hearts be flooded with Your love unconditionally for others.  May we remember that we are  partakers with Christ and respond through Him in all we do and say.  In Jesus your Son's name I pray.  Amen

love to all in Christ Jesus C:)