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    • Unforgiveness destroys everything!

      Posted at 8:30 am by sneuhofer, on July 11, 2018
      Proverbs 17:9 (NCV) Whoever forgives someone’s sin makes a friend, but gossiping about the sin breaks up friendships.
       
      Reading the words of this verse bring an immediate feeling of of hurt and sadness. I thought back to a time where I engaged my mouth before my brain and the words, intended to be funny, came out hurtful. The person receiving the words was instantly offended at what I had said. I thought everything was fine. But little did I know, my eyes were wide open to what had transpired in her heart when someone we both knew told me how much my friend had been offended. I could tell that her offense had grown into anger and bitterness.
       
      Whoa! If I would have only known right then and there…I would have explained myself better and apologized for the unintentional hurtful words. But this friend had held onto the words and allowed them to fester. The more my words lingered, the more of a foothold my friend gave Satan to twist everything I said around.
       
      Has this ever happened to you?
       
      This root issue in this situation is that my friend didn’t like conflict so instead of coming to me and saying something, she felt it necessary to share how I had hurt her with several others. She had fallen into the sin of gossip. By the time word got back to me, I was hurt because the things she said about me were so far from the truth. Playing the victim, she spun the story so many different ways it had taken on a life of its own.
       
      Let me just be honest…I don’t particularly care for conflict either but a conversation had to happen. This was someone I considered to be a close friend…so approaching her should have been easy. But it wasn’t. It was perhaps one of the hardest conversations I’ve ever had. I told her exactly what I heard from the other person and then restated what I intended to say. I told her that I sincerely didn’t mean to hurt her feelings…but I knew the damage had been done. I asked several times during this conversation for her to forgive me, but she “just couldn’t.”
       
      Sad…isn’t it?
       
      The God of the universe can forgive me for the stupid stuff I’ve done over the course of my life, but a friend couldn’t forgive my offense. Needless to say, our friendship is no longer.
       
      Unforgiveness destroys everything…friendships, families, health, etc.
       
      Are you holding on to an offense today? The Bible encourages us to let go, forgive and reconcile. I have included a few scripture references for you at the bottom of this post. I’d like to encourage you to open the lines of communication and talk about the issue with the offender. Don’t allow yourself to fall into gossip. Talk directly to the person who hurt you. If the person is not around to talk to face to face consider writing an email or a letter. These steps will help you get started:
       
      1 – Pray first and seek God’s guidance in the matter.
      2 – Read what God has to say about harboring an offense (see scripture references below).
      3 – Take the steps necessary to make contact with the person who offended you.
      Corinthians 13 is considered to be the love chapter of the Bible, in 1 Corinthians 13:5 (NIV) we are told that love “does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.”  When we keep records of wrong, we are not being forgiving at all.
       
      Matthew 18:21 – 35 – The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant. This parable tells the story of a forgiving master and an unforgiving servant.

       

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    • Forever Forgiven

      Posted at 7:00 am by sneuhofer, on March 15, 2018

      Micah 7:18 – 20 (MSG) Where is the god who can compare with you-wiping the slate clean of guilt, turning a blind eye, a deaf ear, to the past sins of your purged and precious people? You don’t nurse your anger and don’t stay angry long, for mercy is your specialty. That’s what you love most. And compassion is on its way to us. You’ll stamp out our wrongdoing. You’ll sink our sins to the bottom of the ocean. You’ll stay true to your word to Father Jacob and continue the compassion you showed Grandfather Abraham— Everything you promised our ancestors from a long time ago.

      It’s getting to be “that” time again for me…spring cleaning! I think it was last year during a “spring cleaning frenzy” that I was reminded of a very important truth about forgiveness. My husband and I were in MAJOR spring cleaning mode. We busied ourselves by categorizing stuff into piles; keep, sell, donate. To drown out the silence, we listened to a random PANDORA channel. The songs that played were some we hadn’t listened to in years and we cheerfully sang along to help pass the time. I was having a blast singing and dancing along to the music until one song stopped me dead in my tracks and reminded me of how thankful I am for the way God forgives.

      The lyrics to Garth Brooks’ song “We Bury the Hatchet” took on an entirely different meaning to me as I listened to the words. I have included the lyrics below for those of you who may not know them:

      “We bury the hatchet
      But leave the handle stickin’ out
      We’re always diggin’ up things
      We should forget about
      When it comes to forgettin’
      Baby, there ain’t no doubt
      We bury the hatchet
      But leave the handle sticking out”

      As I listened, I was incredibly thankful that when God forgives us “he sinks our sin to the bottom of the ocean” (Micah 7:19). Have you ever thought about how deep the ocean actually is? When I think about God “burying my sin” in the depths of the sea, there is no way possible for the handle to be left “stickin’” out. For this fact I am truly thankful. God won’t throw things back in my face. Once my sins are forgiven, they are forgiven. End of story.

      The thought also reminded me of Psalm 103:8-12 (NIV) which says “The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”

      As humans we aren’t always like that are we? I mean like Garth Brooks’ song, we may “bury the hatchet” but all too often there may be a part, or all, of the handle sticking out. Am I rowing the boat by myself here or is anyone rowing with me? Is there anyone out there who says that they forgive someone and then something happens and “BAM!” the past hurt rears its ugly head again and you have to “forgive” the person all over again?

      Forgiveness, true forgiveness, is essential. Just as Christ has forgiven us (he hurls our iniquities into the depths of the sea & he has removed our transgressions as far as the east is from the west), we also have to forgive those who have hurt, or sinned against (Matthew 6:12), us. Matthew 5: 23 – 24 (MSG) also tells us “If you enter your place of worship and, about to make an offering, you suddenly remember a grudge a friend has against you, abandon your offering, leave immediately, go to this friend and make things right. Then and only then, come back and work things out with God.”

      As much as it depends on us, we are to live at peace with everyone (Romans 12:18). Once you forgive…move on…bury the entire hatchet. Then, there will be no handle to go back and dig up.

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