Category Archives: Forgiveness

Forgiveness

This Life Matters

Some things I want to share tonight. Yes, it is late, but I feel like this is worth sharing with you.

* Life isn’t a game. It can be enjoyed with lots of laughter, joy, and passion…but this thing called life isn’t a game, it isn’t a joke. The Author of Life gives us all a certain number of days to live. At the end, we give an account for what we’ve done in our time here. I have made a lot of really bad decisions in my life, but I want to make less as time goes on. Jesus is the only one who can save me on the day of judgment, but I want to live a life that God would say is full of love, selflessness, pure and blameless. Not so I can be forgiven, but because I appreciate the forgiveness and more importantly, because I love the Lord. If you feel like your life and choices don’t matter, then fast forward a few years to your funeral and ask yourself what kind of legacy do you want to pass on. I hope my legacy is love, faith, courage, authentic, and passionate. Jesus is worth it. So are the people He’a connected me to.

* You have an enemy. You may not feel like you love yourself, but Satan hates you and wants to destroy you, your family, and all those you love. Satan is stronger than you and I, but Jesus who is greater and lives inside the Christian is stronger than Satan. Don’t talk trash to or bout the Devil. Read the book of Jude.Submit to God, and let Him fight the battle for you against Satan. Your enemy, the Devil, wants to kill, steal, and destroy but Jesus has come that you and I have life to the full.

* God loves you relentlessly. For His glory. For your redemption. For the world. Jesus wants all of every single one of us.

* Ever person who asks Jesus to heal or save them gets healed of saved in the gospels. Call out to your Savior.

* God created you beautiful. Powerful. On purpose. With love. Because He likes you. With joy. Complex and simple. For Himself.

* This life matters. The cross is real. The tomb is empty. There is hope all every one of us.

To The Empty Seat – Forgiveness

Don’t think I’m crazy. Even though you may have reason to. Not to long ago I sat in my car talking to the person in the empty passenger seat. The reason why is because this was a person who has taken an exit from my life.

Sometimes you do someone wrong. Sometimes, someone does you wrong. So what do you do when you’re done wrong?

I think I usually posture myself against thy person and act like they are just not that big of a deal to me. After all, they are missing out. Sometimes, I dismiss their wrong by pretending they just didn’t mean that much to me. Sometimes, I even believe myself on that. In reality though, I know I don’t believe that.

When there is love in your heart for another, and the momentum of that love is stopped by avoidance, rejection, or harsh treatment, a wound is in inflicted. I don’t think we have a natural way to quickly surpass the wound. Our smiles betray us. We want to act like we are ok, but we were created for love, not it’s absence. So the infliction of the absence of love, whatever that may be, sends us reeling. It stings. It hurts. It feels like a bit of our souls has a gash that may never heal.

So I was sitting in my car talking to the person in the empty passenger seat. Then I finally said it. The three honest words my soul had ben waiting to speak.

“You hurt me.”

I wanted to posture, swagger, act like it wasn’t a big deal, but deep down I needed to simply say,

“You hurt me.”

Honesty is pivotal. Embracing the truth allows me to move forward. So that my life doesn’t remain static in bitterness.

The words are tough to say, because they five power away. Those words say to a person that we genuinely care about them.

“You hurt me.”

Then I can even say what my soul craves even more. Words that are in me, that I don’t have to search for because they are as constant as oxygen. Three bold words.

“I love you.”

That is why I am sharing this with you. Because I care. Although how I love you may change, I love you nonetheless. I don’t want to say those words because they show too much that I care. I have to share those words because if I don’t, I’ll only be half of who I am.

“I love you.”

Those words let me say what I don’t believe I can say. I want to say these words to you, but saying these words makes me go straight into the middle of the wound you inflicted. Not just for a moment. I have to live in the pain again, but live by this love, not by my reaction to your infliction. The words I want to share, but I don’t want to share. These words say we’re not over. These words say something “it’s ok” “no worries” or “oh it is fine” just don’t get to.

These are the words of hoping. The words that open the door of trusting again. The words of loving. Three healing words.

“I forgive you.”

Sometimes you can say those words to a person. Sometimes, you only can say them to the person who has left your life. So you say them to the person who is no longer sitting in the passenger seat. The seat may be empty, but it is full of potential. These words change everything.

“I forgive you.”

Because I won’t be defined by your defiance, but by the Divine’s deep love for me.