Union Ridge Church


Wednesday, December 29, 2021

by Reverend Dan on December 31, 2021
It’s almost 2022 – a New Year – and lots of folks are talking about “new beginnings” and “starting over.” Resolutions, we call them. “Going to lose weight . . . going to work out . . going to eat better . . . going to church more regularly . . . going to give God more time . . . going to make time for my family.” I’ve got a New Year’s challenge for you to add to that list: going to be better at forgiving. Really forgiving, I mean. All too often we confuse “forgive” with “forget” and get bogged down in the details. In reality, forgiving has very little to do with forgetting. Forgiving isn’t pretending nothing has happened. And it’s certainly not pretending what happened didn’t hurt. And as a human, there’s no way you will ever forget what happened. That’s utopian and if you look around, we ain’t living in Utopia. What forgiving does is refuse to let anything destroy the love that exists between you and the person who hurt you. Or that you hurt. Forgiveness is love at its finest moment. It doesn’t forget the past. What it says is, “I will love you in spite of the past.” Even if the relationship and its boundaries have to change, forgiving will still set you – and the other person – free from the need unforgiveness has for revenge and hate. Make 2022 a year of true forgiveness. I promise, it will change your life. And the best place to start? Forgive yourself. You will never accept the forgiveness of others if you cannot forgive yourself. God’s ready. The other person is ready. Are you?
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