Forgive Them …
The most difficult part of being a person of faith is getting to that level of growth where you can truly forgive people who hurt you and wish the best for those who hate you. It’s easy to return kindness for kindness all day every day. It’s also not too difficult to forgive wrongs of the distant past, though you may still decline to reconcile the relationships.
Here’s where your test of faith gets tricky.
It’s 1,000 times more challenging to care for those who constantly spit proverbial loogies in your face, beat you six ways to Sunday, slap both cheeks, and then throw salt in your wounds daily without ceasing.
It’s also tough to fight the urge to defend yourself when other people paint a different picture of who you are and try to make you wear that image forever. It’s equally as challenging to give up the pursuit of worldly justice when you know you’ve been wronged in the worst of ways.
But here’s how the Almighty can turn it around.
Thinking about the Ultimate Sacrifice can put things back into perspective, or at least the part where you realize that you’re not the only one who has suffered. Sometimes, a quick reminder is a literal godsend.
Remember who did it first.
Everything that is happening to you has already happened to your Savior tenfold. Every cut, every gut punch, every face slap, every spitball, every lie, every mocking, every humiliation, every rejection, every deception, and every attempt to discredit who you are … has … been … done … to Him … first.
So if you are His, you will be treated as such by many individuals. You’ll be treated accordingly by others who are His and by those who are not.
Take a minute to digest that.
You’ll be treated accordingly by others who are His and by those who are not.
Now focus on the lesson and the example.
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” That is what the Savior asked of the Almighty when he was being crucified and mocked by many of His own people. He requested it for all the people who sold him out, set him up, strung him up, scapegoated him, and said he wasn’t who he claimed to be.
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
When you truly understand this part of the story, you can scream Halleluyah for the progress you’ve made.
It’s 100% okay to complain. It’s okay to hurt, and it’s okay to be angry at unrighteous acts. But at the end of the day, you must give all your troubles to your Heavenly Father, and you must have all traces of bitterness yanked out by their roots.
You must also learn to desire what's best for those who hurt you and not just the ones who treat you well. It’s the most difficult of all examples to follow, as it requires strength that you alone do not possess.
Ask for it. Pray for it. Be willing to receive it. You will get there because He promised that He will finish every bit of what He started.
