Sunday, March 13, 2016

Learning To Trust and To Forgive

Matthew 18:15
"Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you , you have gained a brother."
This verse, along with verses 16-20, really go hand in hand with maturity. Its easy for us to gossip and talk badly about someone when they may do or say something that may hurt us. But by doing that, we are also in sin and just creating more problems. Not only does it create problems between you and that other person, but it causes disunity between an entire group. Rather we need to approach that person privatley and talk it out with them and then if that doesnt work you bring others into it to help you talk it out and mend that friendship.
For me personally I can remember an instance in highschool this happened to me. I told my bestfriend something in confidence and it wound up around the whole school and I couldnt even walk up and down the hallways without people pointing and laughing at me. I didn't do the mature thing back then, rather caused problems for that person as well and it just escalated from there, until finally one day I approached them and we talked it out. That experience changed a lot for me. It was so hurtful in so many ways and caused a lot of trust issues for me, but it also grew and matured me as a person as well. Because of the effect it had on me, It caused me to not want to do that to another person. Although the damage and disunity had already been caused, just going to that person and talking it out with them changed everything between us. She was one of my bestfriends and I didn't want to lose that friendship and to this day her and I still talk every now and again, and theres no issues between us. It took me years to approach her though, and thats also where I fall short. I let people hurt me and take advantage of me without taking a stand for myself. On the other end, If I feel i have hurt someone in some way though, or someone doesnt like me for my own actions its easy for me to approach them and make it right.
There are a couple verses that come to mind when I think of how we should treat other. The first is Psalms 103:8 which says, "The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy." The Lord has neverending mercy on us, and we in turn need to have mercy on eachother instead of getting angry and blowing up on that person. The other verse is Proverbs 10:12 which says, "Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all sins." We need to love eachother. Harbouring hatred and maintaining grudges against another person will in turn harden our hearts and also hinder our relationship with God.
A couple verses that really helped me with the hatred that I had in my own heart is Matthew 6:14-15, "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." This really hit me. If i am not merciful and gracious unto others for thier sins against me, then the Lord in return will not be merciful unto me. For years I have harboured hatred in my heart towards a couple people who hurt me when I was younger. It has been hard for me to work through it but since being here in IGNITE I have been able to let go of that hatred, and in turn I pray for them.
Application:
Today I will pray and ask the Lord to give me strength and have mercy on those who hurt me.
Also to overcome the trust issues I have, tonight I will confide in my teammate Tianna about something that I haven't been able to open up about because of my fears.

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