Freedom Through Forgivenessنموونە

Face It

Facing the offense is always a better solution than ignoring the offense.

God wants you to face an offense when it comes; He never asked us to ignore it. If you continue to sweep dirt under the rug, you will eventually trip over the pile of dirt. There are too many cases where people ignore the offense for too long, and it ultimately causes more pain in the end.

You Can't Forgive Something You Ignore

You can't forgive someone for something if you deny the existence of the offense. There are people in this world who believe they have forgiven others for past hurts, yet they deny that these hurts ever occurred. They play it down, saying, "Oh, that wasn't a big deal. I outgrew the pain." Other people may blame themselves, so they ignore the pain, thinking that they deserve it because of what they did or didn't do.

Ignoring a wound only leads to pain later in life, and you won't realize the effects until the damage has already been done.

Forgiveness is Not Minimizing the Offense

In our efforts to cope with the pain of the offense, we tend to minimize what actually happened.

Forgiveness is Never Achieved by Minimizing the Offense

Just because you think something isn't real doesn't mean that it's not. Sometimes we exaggerate minor issues to make a point. If we are losing an argument or feeling hurt, we can try to "make a mountain out of a molehill." When it comes to forgiveness, some try to make a molehill out of a mountain.

"For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says." - Mark 11:23 NKJV

Jesus never said to minimize the mountain. He said to speak to it. He didn't minimize the situation to make Himself stronger; He knew that He was bigger than the mountain that He faced. You must know that you are bigger than the mountain that you face.

The pain you feel is real, but forgiveness is truth. Truth can change reality!

Think about this like lifting weights. Most trainers will say that it's the last few reps that count. The reps you complete when you feel like quitting the most are the most important reps. If you stop and make the weight lighter, you are doing yourself a disservice.

When you try to minimize an offense, you are doing the same exact thing. You are not doing yourself any favors; you are holding yourself back. And the truth of the matter is that minimizing the offense in your head doesn't make it any smaller anyway.

Forgiveness is about beginning the process to overcome the pain that you feel.