Food for thought – and for the soul, too

Even if you walk on your knees back and forth from the entrance to the altar of the Baclaran Church or any church for that matter, 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 12 months a year, your effort amounts to nothing if you don’t know how to forgive.

Isn’t that what the Bible and the priests and other religious leaders have been telling us all along? Forgiveness is basic in The Lord’s Prayer (Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us...), it’s the essence of Christianity, so even if you pray in all languages every minute on the minute, your voice remains muted in the ears of God unless you know how to forgive.

Do I sound like I’m preaching? I hope not. During the Lenten Season, I go over religious books in my little library, such as Experiencing God Day-By-Day by Henry T. Blackaby and Richard Blackaby which DZMM’s Kaye Dacer gave me as a New Year gift in January last year. It’s a collection/compilation of 365 inspiring and enlightening pieces (one for each day of the year) that could change your way of life and the way you look at the world if you digest every word of every piece.

In that book, I came across these thoughts on forgiveness (for Feb. 16), entitled Forgive to Be Forgiven, which I’m sharing with Funfare readers:

"And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors." – MATTHEW 6:12

Few things are more precious to receive than forgiveness. After carrying the burden of our sin, it is wonderfully freeing to know that the one we have wronged has completely forgiven us. Jesus told His disciples to ask God for forgiveness every time they prayed. Jesus knew that we would daily incur debts against God, as we inevitably fall short of God’s standard. A day does not go by that we do not need to ask God to remove our debt against Him.

Jesus warned that we should expect forgiveness from God as we forgive those who sin against us, for God will forgive us in the same way we forgive others (Matt. 6:15). God’s nature is forgiveness (Exod. 34:6-7). If we are to be His disciples, we must follow His example. If God will forgive our most relentless enemy, we can do nothing less. Jesus did not say that certain offenses are unworthy of our forgiveness. We have no biblical excuse for allowing unforgiveness on our hearts.

If you choose to withhold forgiveness from someone, your worship and prayers are futile (Matt. 5:23-24). Ask God to make you aware of those dark corners in your life where you are harboring resentment. A keen awareness of your own need for forgiveness will put the offenses of others in their proper light. Ask God to make you like Christ so that, even when you are being persecuted, you can pray, "Father, forgive them."

And, of course, you know how bitterness can eat you up. It’s like an undigested food that stays in your tummy and gives you not only discomfort but gnawing pain. Unless you eject that undigested food from your system, you can never hope to feel well, in the same way that if you harbor that feeling of bitterness you can never live in peace or expect to be at peace with yourself and the rest of the world.

No, I’m still not preaching. I’ve known that all along, that’s why I try very hard to cast negative feelings from my heart (although, being only human, I can never hope to erase every little trace of them). If you can feel better, why insist on being bitter? Ask any dermatologist (paging Nellie Yu!) or any doctor (right, Vicki Belo?) and they’ll tell you that, yes, bitterness can hasten wrinkles in your body, can make you age faster than you should and can turn you into an emotional wreck.

Here’s another food for your soul from the same book, a piece entitled Bitterness:

"Looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble." – HEBREWS 12:15

Bitterness has a tenacious way of taking root deep within the soul and resisting all efforts to weed it out. Bitterness occurs for many reasons. It might come from deep hurts you received as a child, hurts you cannot forget. Time, rather than diminishing the hurt, only seems to sharpen the pain. Bitterness can result from the hurtful words of a friend or co-worker. Often, the person who hurts you is unaware of the extent of your bitterness. You find yourself rehearsing the offense over and over again, each time driving the root of bitterness deeper within your soul. Bitterness can derive from a sense of being unjustly treated.

Bitterness is easy to justify. You can get so used to a bitter heart that you are even comfortable with it, but it will destroy you. Only God is fully aware of its destructive potential. There is nothing so deeply imbedded in your heart that God’s grace cannot reach down and remove it. No area in your life is so painful that God’s grace cannot bring total healing. No offense committed against you is so heinous that God’s love cannot enable you to forgive.

When you allow bitterness to grow in your life, you reject the grace of God that can free you. If you are honest before God, you will admit the bitterness and allow God to forgive you. Bitterness enslaves you, but God is prepared to remove your bitterness and replace it with His peace and joy.