The Hard Process of Healing
Why do I have to do something this hard?
by Max Lucado
Paul told the disciples in Colossae that the process of healing involves this big step:
As Christ forgave you, so you also must do(Colossians 3:13).
Really, God? Begin the process of healing how?
Well, keep no list of wrongs (1 Corinthians 13:5).
Pray for your antagonists rather than plot against them (Matthew 5:44-45).
Hate the wrong without hating the wrongdoers (Jude 1:20-25).
Turn your attention away from what they did to you to what Christ did for you (Romans 5:6-11).
Outrageous as it may seem, Jesus died for them, too (Romans 14:15; 1 Corinthians 8:11). If He thinks they are worth forgiving, they are.
Does all this make forgiveness easy? No!
Quick? Seldom!
Painless? Hardly!
Forgiveness vacillates.
Forgiveness has fits and starts, …good days and bad, …anger intermingled with love, …and irregular mercy.
We make progress forgiving, only to make a wrong turn. We step forward, then fall back.
But it’s okay. As long as you’re trying to forgive, you are forgiving. It is when you no longer try that bitterness sets in. Keep trying. Keep forgiving.