FAILURE TO FORGIVE HURTS YOU MORE THAN IT HURTS THE UNFORGIVEN

BIBLE MEDITATION:
“For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly 
Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, 
your Father will not forgive your sins.” 
(Matthew 6:14-15)

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
A father came home one day and walked in on his two children 
who were in the midst of a fight.
When the little girl looked up, she knew she was in trouble.
Right away, she turned on some crocodile tears, came over to her daddy, 
and said, “Daddy, I’m so sorry. We shouldn’t have been fighting. 
Forgive me. I love you Daddy.”

She was in her daddy’s arms and he was thinking, 
“She really has a good spirit about this”.
But, then he looked out of the corner of his eye 
and she was sticking her tongue out at her little brother.
Her father said, 
“You can’t hug my neck and stick your tongue out at the same time.”

How often have you heard someone say, 
“I am mad and I am never going to forgive the other person for what they did!”?
Maybe you have even felt that way yourself.
We do that because we have created our own set of standards and whenever 
someone violates our guidelines, our selfishness “kicks in” and we become angry.

We can do if our heart fails to acknowledge that it is not “all about us”.
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility 
value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests 
but each of you to the interests of the others. (Philippians 2:3-4)

Sometimes we want others to forgive us for something, 
but we are unwilling to forgive them for the same thing.
We can easily find fault in others while overlooking our on flaws.
Their faults may bother us, but our faults might bother them even more.
If we aren’t careful we can develop a self-righteous attitude which can cause 
us to constantly find fault in others and forget that we are as imperfect as them.

Look at the words of Jesus regarding our attitudes.
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay 
no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 
‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank 
in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, 
and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
(Matthew 7:3-5)

ACTION POINT:
Do you have that kind of unforgiving heart today?
You’re playing a game with God while holding a grudge against somebody?
Do you think God receives worship from this kind of heart?
It’s time to get it right, isn’t it?

An unforgiving spirit is going to do more damage to you 
than it will ever do to the person you refuse to forgive.
If there is someone who has hurt or offended you in some way, forgive them.
When you spend your time looking for ways to criticize others,
then you will miss out on enjoying their good qualities.

Learn to overlook their flaws instead of pointing them out to them.
Your sins have hurt the Lord, but He forgives you, because He loves you.
His desire is for you to have the same kind of love for others that He has for you.

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, forgive me for being unforgiving and for holding 
grudges against others. I pray that You will help me to overcome my 
envy, jealousy, anger and lack of compassion so that I can love others 
as You love me. Teach me to love others even if they have hurt or
offended me. I now realize that my lack of forgiveness ultimately 
hurts me more than it does them. I also realize that if I expect to be
more like You, then I need to develop the same attitudes You have, 
and learn to treat others as You do. Thank You for forgiving me in
spite of how I have hurt You.”

blog: UTVOLWOODY.WORDPRESS.COM