But You Don't Know What They Did..

I want you to do some thinking for this post. I want you to think about a time when you were absolutely hurt by someone. Best friend? Spouse? Child? Coworker? Boss? It could be anytime, anywhere, any situation. It could be from 20 years ago or even 2 days ago. This may be hard for some of you but just hang on. I'm hoping this will help.

Got your time in mind?

Great.

Think about how badly they hurt you. How did you feel when it happened? What ran through your mind? What did you do about it? How did you react? Could you have done something differently?

Have you forgiven them?

Ephesians 4:32 -

"Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."

I know what you're thinking. "But you don't know what they did to me!" Trust me, I have had my fair share of hurt before. From friends to family. I may not know or have been through your exact situation, but I can promise you I have been through some hurt in my life. And it took me an incredibly long time to learn to forgive. Which also lead to an incredibly long time of unhappiness.

I don't want you to go through any hurt but we all go through it. And I also don't want you to live a single day of unhappiness. Who ever it was that hurt you, no matter what they did, forgive them. Even if they don't deserve it. 

Still unsure about forgiving them? Let's try to look at it a different way.

Judas was one of the 12 disciples. He was also the one that told the chief priests where Jesus would be so that they could capture him and eventually crucify him. Judas lead the crowd to Jesus and gave him a gently kiss on the cheek. A kiss of betrayal. But still Jesus forgave Judas and hung on the cross for him. Just like he did you and me. So if Jesus can forgive Judas for betraying him, the least I can do is forgive others who have hurt me.