What Gift Can I Give

I read a blog recently about living in the past; about living in unforgiveness.

It was an acknowledgment of all who refuse to allow change in those around them.

It caught my attention and still has it…..the reason is obvious, isn’t it?

It is close to my heart.

I have been on both sides of this; I have been held captive and remained there for far too many years. I have been unforgiving, and unforgiven. One feeds the other and it is sad to live a life in captivity; a life that was meant to be lived in freedom through Christ.

People can change and people do change. Christ is the author of changing people.

The greatest gift I can give someone who has experienced change is to forgive their past…and allow them to forget it. God Almighty has chosen to forgive their past; I have no right to hold anything against another person. God Almighty chose to forgive me also.

I am humbled.

Psalm 103:12 reads, “He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.” (NIV)

I am forgiven.

It is the greatest gift I can give myself as well; both for my own sins and for those of others. I must remove them from my mind. When satan tempts me with evil thoughts, I must turn to Christ. He will always rescue me and remove evil thoughts from my mind. He is faithful and it is not of him to harbor resentment.

I am obliged to remember the parable of the unforgiving debtor in Matthew 18:23-35.
Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.” At this the servant fell on his knees before him.’ Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

“But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’ “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.

“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?” In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” (NIV)

Is this not enough of a warning for us to change our ways?

We have been forgiven much…we are commanded to forgive little.