Paul told the disciples in Colossae that the process of healing involves this big step:

As Christ forgave you, so you also must do (Colossians 3:13).

Really, God? Begin the process of healing how?

  • Well, keep no list of wrongs (1 Corinthians 13:5).

  • Pray for your antagonists rather than plot against them (Matthew 5:44-45).

  • Hate the wrong without hating the wrongdoers (Jude 1:20-25).

  • Turn your attention away from what they did to you to what Christ did for you (Romans 5:6-11).

  • Outrageous as it may seem, Jesus died for them, too (Romans 14:15; 1 Corinthians 8:11). If He thinks they are worth forgiving, they are.

Does all this make forgiveness easy? No!

Quick? Seldom!

Painless? Hardly!

Forgiveness vacillates.

Forgiveness has fits and starts, ...good days and bad, ...anger intermingled with love, ...and irregular mercy.

We make progress forgiving, only to make a wrong turn. We step forward, then fall back.

But it's okay. As long as you're trying to forgive, you are forgiving. It is when you no longer try that bitterness sets in. Keep trying. Keep forgiving.

 

From Max Lucado's book, You'll Get Through This. Used by permission.

In You'll Get Through This: Hope and Help for Your Turbulent Times, Max Lucado encourages readers through sharing the Biblical story of Joseph.

Joseph was stripped of his identity, thrown into a pit, and sold as a slave. His was a story of apparent defeat and insurmountable challenges. yet as time passed, God worked through his circumstances to bring redemption and reconciliation for he and his family and deliverance for the people of God. Although it may seem hard to believe, with God's help, you can get through your difficulties, too. The story of Joseph's life didn't end in the pit and neither does yours.