Friday, March 31, 2017

Living to forgive



A few months ago I found myself thinking a lot on these words of Jesus: “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:29-30). As I was meditating on that, I however saw a picture of a heavy yoke that is pressing and irritating to the point of bleeding. I was sharing this with a friend and she responded by saying that mostly burdensome yokes are related to unforgiveness. “Forgiveness seems to be almost daily thing, but perhaps the most important,” she said. I gave that some thought, but did not see the relevance right away. Few days later, another friend told about a film she watched on Youtube called Live to forgive. I was able to watch the film some days later and after that, felt something happening in my spirit. I started to see the connection between pride and being under a heavy yoke. Being under the light yoke that Jesus talks about in Matthew 11:30 is connected to learning from Him to be humble.

Watching the film “Live to forgive,” I was reminded of the truth that we do not need to struggle to forgive in our own strength. All we need is to give God access to our hearts and He would make a miracle of forgiveness happen. What we normally can master in our own strength is just a tolerance and not getting back at someone. We often get reminded that forgiveness is not feelings, but decision, so many of us clench teeth and say: “I forgive.” But is warmth coming into your heart from doing so? I have had instances when I said it many times, but it did not appear to make any difference. Isn’t it just one way of struggling to do it in our own strength? Alternatively, we can make a commitment to pray for God to work miracle of forgiveness in our hearts. When God gets involved, human limitations do not exist, as we enter supernatural realm. Then the degree of the offense will not matter as much either. Typically, true forgiveness will bring to remembrance good things about the person as well, while when we have not forgiven, little bad can overshadow much good. Praying to God for working forgiveness in our hearts for some time, we can gradually see the burden lifted. Practicing walking in forgiveness is one way of being gentle, meek, and finding relief for our souls that Jesus talks about in Matthew 11:29-30. It is good to be reminded of walking in forgiveness as we need it for daily small offenses as well as bigger things that we are carrying in our hearts. Forgiveness will release a lot of yoke and burden from our lives. It is being willing to give another person opportunity to start all over, just as God has given that opportunity to us in Jesus.

A question arises - isn’t forgiveness closing of eyes towards problem and encouraging it? I feel God gave me a revelation that on the contrary, forgiveness will give energy to remain engaged and solve the problem, while unforgiveness will only make us withdraw in independence and separation, locked in hurt. We can choose to stay under heavy pressing yoke, in the clouds where offenses are constantly reenacted and played out, or, in God’s strength, we can rise above that, higher where the sky is clear. Then we see far and have better perspective on the whole issue, and we see a new horizon and rising sun of hope. It can be a simple matter of turning to God right the moment when we feel hurt or a painful memory resurfaces. Often those are simply suppressed without processing, but we can make a conscious effort to turn to God every time we catch ourselves in these thoughts or emotions. That will make a big difference and help us to travel light.