Part III: Do You Have A Forgiving Attitude?
Be Selfish: Have A Forgiving Attitude!
A wise man said, Forgiveness is first of all a gift you give yourself. Forgiveness is almost a selfish act—because of the incredible blessing the forgiver gets!
Imagine this scenario.
You’re so angry at someone, you decide to buy Triple-X poison from the drugstore. Upon reaching home, you drink the entire bottle yourself! And then you hope that the person who offended you dies because of the poison.
Huh?
Pretty insane, right?
But that’s the insanity of the unforgiving attitude.
I know of a woman who caught her husband having many affairs. It totally devastated her. It was such a deep wound, her bitterness slowly killed her body. She had cancer and after 2 years passed away. What happened to her husband? Still with his many girlfriends.
My friend is wiser.
She had a business partner who stole from her P8 Million. She thought it was the end of the world. She’d go to me at our weekly Feast, asking me to pray for her.
And in her heart, she made a decision to forgive her business partner. She refused to remain stuck. She didn’t spend time thinking how to avenge herself. She moved on.
Today, my friend has recovered from that loss—and so much more. Her God is prospering her business.
The business partner who stole from her? She heard that she was in jail—because of another crime.
My friend did the unthinkable: She visited her in jail.
Move On!
Many years ago, I heard through the grapevine that I was being accused of using people’s donations to buy myself a car.
That hurt. (If I used the donations to buy myself a car, I would have bought a Rolls Royce.)
I later learned that a friend had spread that gossip.
But on that same day, I forgave that friend in my heart.
Why? Because I was being “selfish”.
Here was my logic: It’s bad enough that he hurt me once. Why let him hurt me again (and again and again…) by rewinding the tapes of his sin in my mind?
Friend, if someone has hurt you—don’t let that hurt ruin your life. Don’t let a betrayal, or divorce, or adultery, or unfaithfulness destroy your life and your destiny.
Forgive and move on with your life!
Forgiveness means you won’t invest emotional energy to your hurt anymore.
Some people don’t do that.
They like rewinding the tapes. They like reviewing the hurt in their imagination. They like opening an old wound and puncturing it again. And again. And again.
(To continue reading Bo’s inspiring article, click here.)
