Have you ever made a mistake. You know, one of those honest ones. And when you make the mistake, even after an apology, the injured party doesn't seem to forgive? Yeah, this happened a couple of weeks ago.
We were at a neighbors and my son, being the curious and industrious boy that he is, decided to use a bubble wand as a bat. As soon as he hit the ball with his makeshift bat, the bubble wand disintegrated and bubble juice flew everywhere- including our neighbor's freshly-made mug of coffee. "I apologized for. Y son's misstep, he apologized as well. I turned and asked my neighbor if she was ok, and she said, "No! It got in my coffee!"
Now, everyone will react to a situation in their own way. If it were me, i may have responded "No, but kids will do things like this." Or, "no biggie." I guess it depends on my attitude leading up to the disastrous event.
My mama-bear reaction to her non-acceptance of my, and my son's, apology was snarky, at best. Praise God that He didn't let it actually be said out loud. This was went through my mind to say to her, "I am so glad God's grace is sufficient for us because if we had to depend on yours, we'd be sunk!"
Here is the truth- there is no point in holding a grudge or resentment towards someone because God's Grace IS sufficient. If you ask for forgiveness, whether it is accepted by the other person or not, you ARE forgiven by the one it matters most. Forgiveness is not for the other person's sake, it is for our own heart. Sometimes we are the ones who need to forgive, and we don't want to. We want to hold onto the anger. Forgiveness can make us seem weak.
2 Corinthians 12 talks about this. First, in verse 9, it states that God's Grace is sufficient. It goes on a few verses later to say that we are strong in our weakness. Asking for forgiveness, or forgiving someone, may seem like a "weak" move in the world's eyes, but the Bible says we find strength in our weakness. How true of forgiveness! We gain Christ's strength when we choose forgiveness! How awesome is that!
If you have the chance, if you have the guts, choose forgiveness today. Experience the freedom, the strength you can receive for this offering.
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