Asking Forgiveness

[ahigherway]

Hi all,
we are told by Jesus to forgive. And if we forgive, we will also receive forgiveness ourselves.
And if we do not forgive each other, we ourselves will not receive forgiveness.

Which is harder to do? to forgive, or to ask forgiveness?

Curious to hear your thoughts..

Blessings to all,
brian

 

[Selene]

Hi all,
we are told by Jesus to forgive. And if we forgive, we will also receive forgiveness ourselves.
And if we do not forgive each other, we ourselves will not receive forgiveness.

Which is harder to do? to forgive, or to ask forgiveness?

Curious to hear your thoughts..

Blessings to all,
brian

Hello Ahigerway,

For me, I've always found it difficult to forgive than to ask for forgiveness. I am the kind of person who takes responsibility for what I say and do. So, if I know that I've done something wrong or hurt someone, I always ask that person to forgive me. However, when I am the one who is hurt by someone, it's not always easy for me to forgive. It takes time. If a person has hurt me and he/she asks for forgiveness, my mouth will come out and say,"Okay, I forgive you." But deep inside, I struggle with this. Here I am saying "yes, I forgive" but in my heart, I keep remembering the hurtful things the person has done to me, I won't forget it and it is hard for me to trust that person. If a person truely forgives, they would not keep remembering or harbor thoughts about the past. So, I know that deep in my heart, I really have not truely forgiven the person. For example, if a husband or wife cheats on their spouse by committing adultery, and then they ask for forgiveness......that is so hard. Those are my thoughts.

In Christ,
Selene

 

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The other side of the coin is BEING forgiven.

Sad to say, a lot of folks prefer to harbor a grudge than to wipe the slate clean.
This includes Christian folks as well as our unwashed bretheren.

Everyone knows the typical example; pastor X, or priest Y is found (or suspected) of sin.
Does fire descend from the sky to make a cinder of his life?
Why then does it come from us?

Even the pop of the Roman church is not immune.
No one forgives priestly sin and even His Holiness must endure the scalding remarks thrown his way.
I'm not a Roman by any stretch of the imagination, but it does seem to me that enough is enough.

Except it isn't.

People LOVE to hate and bite and scratch at one another like packs of rabid dogs.

 

[ahigherway]

Yes, forgiving is sometimes hard to do, especially if the offending party has not asked forgiveness.
In fact, I believe that the hardest thing to do is to ASK forgiveness, because it means humbling oneself. It means putting oneself lower than the other person. It means allowing the other person to punish you or to set you free. And there is no guarantee that they will be set free.
In fact, traditional Christianity teaches that after this life, there will be no more being set free.

So asking forgiveness means humbling oneself. And I don't see many people doing this today, for any reason.

Blessings,
brian

 

[Adstar]

Hi all,
we are told by Jesus to forgive. And if we forgive, we will also receive forgiveness ourselves.
And if we do not forgive each other, we ourselves will not receive forgiveness.

Which is harder to do? to forgive, or to ask forgiveness?

Curious to hear your thoughts..

Blessings to all,
brian

For the very proud, asking forgivness would be very hard.

For the very hurt, giving forgivness would be very hard.

Hard or Easy, it is what we are called to do.

All Praise The Ancient Of Days

PS: I would just like to add that being forgiven by another or giving forgivness to another does not nessecaraly mean you are fogiven or they are forgiven by God.

We are fogiven through the Messiah Jesus. Not by being forgiven by others.

We Christians are called to fulfill our calling that is between us and God. The other person is responsable for their own response to God.

Yes, forgiving is sometimes hard to do, especially if the offending party has not asked forgiveness.
In fact, I believe that the hardest thing to do is to ASK forgiveness, because it means humbling oneself. It means putting oneself lower than the other person. It means allowing the other person to punish you or to set you free. And there is no guarantee that they will be set free.

You do not need the other to set you free. If you have the forgivness of Jesus you are free indeed.


All Praise The Ancient Of Days