It seems to me like a lot of people struggle with forgiveness, even followers of Jesus. We tend to hold grudges and resentment quite easily. Peter wanted to see what Jesus had to say about this, and asked Jesus if people should hold to the Jewish tradition of forgiving people up to seven times. But Jesus radically changed Peter’s perspective.
Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” Matthew 18:21-22
In other words, forgive your brother countless times. Unfortunately though, a lot of the things we don’t forgive are trivial, stupid things. Especially as Americans, we get very caught up in ourselves. I think that the lesson from a young man in Uganda that I read on the AFLC’s world missions blog should really teach us so much about forgiveness. Someone beat him so badly that he ended up losing the use of one of his eyes, and here is part of what he says about the situation:
I decided to HATE Paulo for what he had done to my life. Little did I know that holding a grudge against a fellow man is like soaking one’s faith in Satan’s open teeth. The more I hated Paulo, the looser I became in Christ. Instead of emulating Jesus Christ in my life I decided to engage in unconstructive nonsense as far as holiness is concerned. Hatred contaminated all my ways of sober thinking and for sure it affected my relationship with God. Remember, your heart is the engine to your whole body and a damage to your heart is also felt by your soul.
Accept the reality and lessen the burden on your heart, for I gained nothing in hating Paulo….I had poisoned my life for so long and now it was time to let Jesus flourish in my life. Jesus died for man to have peace, but I had no peace in my mind. Hatred is like cancer in our hearts which need to be removed before it attacks the blood vessel. We ought to garment our lives with the love of Jesus Christ, but not with crimes. Holding a grudge is compared to harassing one’s life. Sin halts your heart and saps your life…At last I chose to forgive Paulo and forget whatsoever he did to me. I am now living a free Christian life. My soul is no longer troubled.
The coolest thing about this story is that he doesn’t stop there. He followed a pastor’s advice and went to Paulo to ask forgiveness for having a grudge against him, even though Paulo had severely hurt him. Check out what happened:
I went to Paulo’s home to ask him to forgive me for hating him intensely for the past ten years. When I apologized, Paulo could hardly believe his ears, knowing the great pain he had caused me. “No, I’m the one who should apologize to you,” he said. We talked for the next two hours and at last we parted as friends in Christ.
If this willing heart in Uganda can forgive someone for beating him to the point of losing his eyesight, I think we as followers of Jesus can forgive the simple things we hold grudges against. Perry Noble also gave great teaching on the subject, which I highly recommend you watch.
