Have You Ever Been Hurt?
Ever been hurt by someone? Has anyone ever done something to you that changed everything for the worse? How do you react? How can you forgive them? If they were wrong why should you?
A young girl lived in a village with her family. It was a happy life, she helped her mother with the housework, played in the streets and sometimes in the fields and laughed a lot. Things were OK.
Then one day soldiers came and raided her village. They killed a lot of people and took everything that they could use or sell with them, including her. She was sold, as a slave, to a rich couple to be the wife’s maid. It’s a lot to take in. Especially when you’re very young and very alone.
Imagine all the memories and tears bottled up inside you as each day you have to smile and serve and be polite. Even while your heart is breaking, everything has to be done exactly right and with the right attitude. It’s hard.
Sometime later her owner got sick and when she heard about it she told her mistress (his wife) about a man who could heal him. And he went to see him and he was healed. Why did she do that? They were keeping her as a slave! She was stolen from her family! Why shouldn’t she be angry and resentful? Her relatives had been killed! She shouldn’t be concerned and helping!
The difference was that although she was kept as a slave in her heart she was free. She wasn’t locked up with anger and resentment or hatred. She had moved on and so could find peace and purpose in her new life. It wasn’t what she wanted, but what was done was done, and now she was here.
This doesn’t mean what happened to her was right, nor does it mean that once people are forgiven everything bad that happened somehow goes away. It doesn’t.
But when God asks us to forgive the people who hurt us he is inviting us to free ourselves from all the bad feelings that we have. He is inviting us to be able to move on and be happy again.
Forgiveness is about moving on, providing a starting point for the emotional healing. Ours and theirs. Don’t let anger and the desire for revenge lock you up in a hopeless cell without windows. It’s hard to forgive. And sometimes it’s harder to be forgiven. But we sentence ourselves to a much worse fate when we don’t.
“Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?"
Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times”
Matthew 18: 21, 22 (NLT)
“Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tender-hearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.
Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.
Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.”
Colossians 3:12-14 (NLT)