― Dietrich Bonhoeffer
As I read this I can't help but fathom the truth behind these words.
In a world that is already corrupt and filled with the hurt and hatred held onto by so many why is it that some people can not choose to forgive, and when I saw forgive I do not mean only the other who has done the wrong to them, but to forgive themselves for any self inflicted pains whether it be spiritual, emotional, mental, or physical.
As it says in Luke 24:45-49
45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and[c] forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you.
One can not merely live in the ways of seclusion and self hurt because the heart was never intended to be held together through bitterness.When Christ returned to his disciples he clearly states that forgiveness of sins among all the nations needs to be told, so that the promise of Gods love may be true, and Gods love is unconditional so within that how can one truly let them hate their self? God clearly shows that we are his regardless of what we have done or how we feel about it. He is calling us to him, and in that calling there is forgiveness that comes from a love which is truly incomprehensible.
in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 and 7:22-24
English Standard Version (ESV)
English Standard Version (ESV)
22 For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a bondservant of Christ. 23 You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men. 24 So, brothers,in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God.
So now one must ask?
The quote from before how does it apply to this?
Yes it talks about forgiveness of one another, and even references to marriage as an example so why talk about the forgiveness of ones self first?
The answers rather simple actually.
For if one denies their own spiritual worth? Then how can they value anothers?
For in the unconditional love and mercy of God we are called to be his bride.
You can see countless times in scriptures as to where all believers are mentioned as one body, and that one body is referred to as the Bride of Christ.
And if the bride is solely focusing on all her imperfections how can she truly notice the absolute worth she has in the eyes of her beloved? With imperfections and all he still loves her?
He has not turned her down or told her to be cast aside.
He says I love you regardless of what you see, because you are mine to love.
He has even already laid down his life for the sake of his love because that is the worth in which we have.
Recently I was seeing this girl (I'm not gonna say any names out of respect and she'll kill me if she ever reads this jk but I'd rather not upset her)
She was OUTSTANDING! She went to church, believed in God, her personality was outgoing, she was not afraid to be herself, she would be blunt (sometimes it'd be good other times bad), she was real, she was passionate, artistic, funny, charming, caring, beautiful not only on the inside but the outside as well, her eyes would make me melt inside, all the lovey dubby stuff, but she also had a past.
Now like most people including myself ones past can truly affect on how one see's their own worth, and for her we can just say she couldn't see amazing woman who I had found, and it broke my heart.
So constantly the relationship went from being great, to not so great, and it would jump back and forth so much. It was literally mentally, emotionally, and spiritually exhausting.
and I found myself constantly wanting to run away, Just not deal with it, just to say no this is enough you're not worth it. Yet every time one of those thoughts in my head would come, God would say, "Tommy look with my eyes, and how does God see his bride? Faultless."
So I'd stay, knowing that this is not something that I could handle, but something that felt more like God needed me to do and show me that I have to solely rely on him. Surely he could hold me up.Because I knew that with God as my guide and being lead by a love truly like his would be the only way I could actually and hope to show this girl on just how amazing she truly was, and how much I actually cared for her.
And it was interesting because she would pull out all the stops on what was wrong with her, or say why things would just not work, but I would look with Gods eyes and tell her that it doesn't matter because that is not how God sees her, and that God loves her so much more then she could fathom, and slowly but surely I started to see a change. Now this change was not me at all, but it was the power and the word of Gods true unconditional love and it was a blessing to be able to see that first hand.
Sadly though as much as I'd like to say this story has a happy ending and she beleieved in herself again then we got married and all that other stuff we parted ways, and I find myself thinking about her constantly. I just really hope that she was able to forgive herself after trying to show her how much she is truly worth.
Now my point to my story is this, in showing forgiveness, in all the times to where I could of run for the wrongs done that since I didn't God was able to use that to show his true love and mercy to a person, and granted I was blessed to be used as a tool to do that (even though I didn't really get to see that at first) but through that forgiveness I know that God was capable of reaching out to her. Now if only the world could look with Gods eyes.
If it could truly see and be able to forgive for all the wrongs.
what would it truly look like?
Gods Blessing.
-Tommy B.
