2022-03-21
Luke 6:37 NLT
Once you understand that parents aren’t always capable of giving their kids what they didn’t get themselves – namely love, nurturing, acceptance, and physical affection – it becomes easier to forgive them.
Author Stormie Omartian says: “Sometimes what one parent didn’t do hurts as bad as what the abusing one did. A parent’s uninvolvement or unwillingness to step in and rescue you feels like a betrayal. Unforgiveness for that uninvolved parent is more difficult to recognize but is more common than we think. Ask God to show you any unforgiveness towards a parent who didn’t come to your rescue. If it’s there, you have to deal honestly with your feelings… We can’t go back in time and get someone to hold and nurture us, and we mustn’t demand it from a spouse or friends because they can’t do it. It [must] come from our heavenly Father… The first step… is to receive [His] forgiveness and let its reality penetrate the deepest part of our being. When we realize how much we have been forgiven… we have no right to pass judgment on… another. Being forgiven and released from everything we’ve ever done is such a miraculous gift, how could we refuse to obey God when He asks us to forgive others? Forgiveness is a two-way street. God forgives you, and you forgive others… We base our decision not on what we feel like doing but on what we know is right.”
Jesus said, “Do not judge…and you will not be judged… Forgive… and you will be forgiven” (v. 37 NLT). Choosing to forgive and not let somebody else’s sin dictate how you feel and what you do frees you to live in peace.
Soul food: Job 11-14; Luke 18:31-43; Ps 116:12-19; Pro 8:10-13
Luke 9:62 NIV
Whatever has happened in our past, it doesn’t automatically determine our future. Here are some things to remember to help us keep moving forward: 1) Focus on what’s ahead. We can use what we’ve learned from our past experiences, good and bad, to help us as we move forward. But if we keep looking back at the past, we’ll miss all the amazing things that God’s putting in our future. Our past isn’t where we’re heading; we need to stay focused on what’s ahead.
2) Stop looking for easy answers. Life is hard, and being a Christian certainly doesn’t promise us a trouble-free life. In fact, when we’re following God’s plan, the devil might try even harder to stop us. But what we are promised is a God who is bigger than any problem we’ll ever have to face, and who will not leave us to face things alone.
3) Stay on your path – not everybody will go with you. We shouldn’t let anyone hold us back from following the plan that God has for us. Following God’s path might mean leaving friends behind, but even though that’s hard, we can be sure that God’s plans are the best, and He has amazing things lined up for us if we choose to trust Him and follow His guidance.
4) Believe in yourself – God does! People might try to criticise us and put us down, but God knows our potential, and if we’re willing to trust Him and work hard, He’ll help us fulfil it. He gave each of us a specific purpose, and He doesn’t make mistakes. If He’s called us, He’ll give us everything we need to achieve that calling.
Job 11-14; Luke 18:31-43; Ps 116:12-19; Pro 8:10-13
Lukas 6:37 NLV
Sodra jy verstaan dat ouers nie altyd in staat is om dit vir hulle kinders te gee wat hulle self nie ontvang het nie – naamlik liefde, versorging, aanvaarding en fisiese geneentheid – word dit makliker om hulle te vergewe.
Die skrywer Stormie Omartian sê: ‘Soms maak dit wat een ouer nie gedoen het nie, net so seer as die een wat mishandel het. ‘n Ouer se onbetrokkenheid en onwilligheid om in te tree en jou te red, voel soos verraad. Onvergifnis vir ‘n onbetrokke ouer is moeiliker om te herken, maar meer algemeen as wat ons dink. Vra God om vir jou te wys of jy enige onvergifnis het teenoor ‘n ouer wat nie tot jou redding gekom het nie. As dit daar is, moet jy daardie gevoelens eerlik hanteer.
Die eerste stap is om God se vergifnis te ontvang en toe te laat dat die realiteit daarvan ons diepste binneste binnedring. Wanneer ons besef hoeveel ons al vergewe is, het ons geen reg om iemand anders te veroordeel nie. Om vergewe en vrygestel te word van alles wat ons ooit gedoen het is so ‘n wonderbaarlike gawe, hoe kan ons dus weier om gehoorsaam te wees wanneer God ons vra om ander te vergewe?
Vergifnis is ‘n tweerigting straat. God vergewe jou en jy vergewe ander mense. Ons baseer ons besluit nie op dit wat ons voel ons wil doen nie, maar op dit wat ons weet reg is.’
Jesus het gesê: ‘Hou op om ander te oordeel, en julle sal nie geoordeel word nie… As julle ander vergewe, sal julle vergewe word’ (vers 37 NLV). Deur te kies om te vergewe en nie toe te laat dat iemand anders se sonde dit wat jy voel en doen voorskryf nie, word jy vry om in vrede te leef.
Sielskos: Job 11-14; Luk 18:31-43; Ps 116:12-19; Spr 8:10-13
2022-03-20
Philippians 3:13-14 NIVUK
The more someone has hurt us, the harder it is to forgive them. But we must choose forgiveness, because whatever we refuse to forgive and let go of, we carry with us like a weight. Sometimes we may even need to forgive ourselves for something we’ve done.
Whatever our particular hurt, the solution isn’t feeding it by feeling sorry for ourselves, or denying it by pretending it never happened. We have to face the hurt, then forgive and let it go, or we’ll continue to hurt ourselves. Someone once said that choosing not to forgive somebody is like eating poison and expecting the other person to die. In order to move forward, we have to let go and be at peace with the past.
Paul put many Christians to death before he met Christ. He could easily have allowed that memory to destroy him and rob him of his destiny. But he refused to let it. Instead he wrote: ‘Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus’ (Philippians 3:13-14 NIVUK). Paul hadn’t forgotten his past, but knowing that God had forgiven him, he wasn’t going to let his past hold him back.
Mark 11:25 says: ‘If you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins’ (NIV). Starting today, choose forgiveness.
Lev 24:17-22; Deut 15:7-11; Matt 5:38-48
Ephesians 4:32 NKJV
There is nothing worse than the pain parents inflict on their kids. Often it stems from ignorance, but that doesn’t lessen the hurt when you’re on the receiving end.
A Christian author writes: “Needs not met in childhood will be just as strong in adulthood, but they will be expertly camouflaged. If you were abused as a child, don’t be misled into [thinking]… ‘I’m born again – I shouldn’t still hurt.’ The fact that you still hurt doesn’t negate your born-again status or make you less spiritual. Because people tend to view God the way they viewed their parents, it takes a time of healing, deliverance, and getting to know the love of God before total trust comes.
Forgiving your parents is a big part of the healing (and crucial to avoiding the pitfall of abusing your own children). You have to forgive the father who never protected you, the mother who mistreated and abused you, the stepfather who didn’t love you, the grandfather or uncle who sexually molested you, the parent who was never there or deserted you through death or abandonment… the selfish parent who reminded you that you were never wanted, or the emotionally deficient parent who didn’t know how to properly nurture you.
These bitterly painful experiences will continue to hurt you if you don’t… release all that pain and bitterness… and ask [God] to help you forgive… He is a God of restoration and redemption, so He can redeem whatever… occurred in your past. He can mend the breach between you and your children, or parents, or friends. Restoration doesn’t happen overnight, but redemption can. Allow God to redeem your situation now, so it can be turned around and headed in the right direction.”
Soul food: Lev 24:17-22; Deut 15:7-11; Matt 5:38-48
