Thoughts on Forgiveness

I want to share few things that God has used this last week to hit me over the head on the topic of forgiveness (nobody's favorite) where He has shown me that I clearly need some work:

"What are seventy-seven sins of others against me when I have innumerable sins against God? [Matthew 18:22-34]... When a person truly recognizes the greatness of one's debt to God, the great cost of Christ's sacrifice to take in Himself the consequences of one's sin, it is impossible to refuse to forgive another the lesser debts of personal offenses. To refuse to forgive another's sins toward you means that you have refused to see your own sins before God and that indeed you have never truly received his forgiveness."

--A. Wetherell Johnson, Matthew, Lesson 22

"Forgiveness is an act of strength. Some people see forgiveness as a flaw in a weak person. Nothing could be farther from the truth. It takes little inner fortitude to harbor anger, resentment, or hate. It takes a great deal of courage to lay down one's anger and seek to walk away in peace."

--Unknown

"Choosing to be unforgiving is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die."

--Unknown

"When I finally learned that forgiveness doesn't make the other person right, it makes you free, I found great breakthrough in that area. I always felt that forgiving someone meant I was saying, 'What you did is okay.' But that's not the case at all. Forgiveness is trusting that God is the God of justice He says He is and saying, 'Father, I won't hold that person to myself with unforgiveness anymore.' It's acknowledging that God knows the truth and allowing Him to be the judge, because He is the only one who knows the whole story."

--Stormie Omartian, The Power of a Praying Parent