30 Little Things: The Book of GenesisSample

Forgiveness.

The topic of forgiveness is always a great topic to talk about. It is a never ending discussion because we will always need to forgive others and be forgiven. We are bound to hurt people and be hurt, it is somewhat how the world works. But even though this hurt will always keep coming back, the lesson to take away lies in how we forgive and be forgiven by others. If we look at stories from all over the Bible, we see that conflicts arise all the time. From sibling rivalry to hatred over immorality, we see them written everywhere. A great example of forgiveness can be taken from the story of Esau and Jacob. Jacob took Esau's firstborn blessings, something that couldn't be undone and brings a huge disadvantage to Esau. Was it fair for Jacob to steal the blessings away from Esau? Of course not! Esau was outraged up to a point where he wanted to hunt down Jacob.

So did he? Well, if we read until Genesis 33:4, we will see that Esau embraced Jacob and kissed his little brother. Crazy, huh? It wasn't fair for Esau, yet he forgave Jacob anyway. And in the end, forgiveness gave the story a much more beautiful ending as the two brothers were reunited at peace, finally restoring a relationship that was once broken.