Day 5: You Forgiving

“Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” Luke 6:35

Have you ever had to move your couch or lift off the cushions?

If so, prepare your heart and soul for the horrors that you are about to experience!

If you’re like our family, you may find M&M’s, screws, old pizza crusts, rusty pennies, Lego pieces, and possibly a living thing or two! 

On the surface, our couch usually looks great. But underneath, there could be all this cruddy stuff. We’ve had many friends and family over to sit on our couches, even with the hidden mess.  

A couch like this can be similar to how many of us live. On the surface, many of us give the impression that we are great when, on the inside, we might be struggling. We put only the highlight pictures of ourselves and our families on our social media accounts, so everybody sees us at our best. Or maybe the few moments we let people in to see the “bad” stuff, it’s only to brag about how much more “authentic” and “real” we are. 

Deep down on the inside, many of us are hurting. Maybe your close friends don’t even know it. If you can’t let go of the past, you’ll never be able to move into the future.

While we have a long way to go in extending grace and forgiveness to others, typically, the person we are least gracious and forgiving of is ourselves. Many of us are still beating ourselves up for stuff that God has, in fact, already paid in full.

When Jesus healed people physically, He also proclaimed forgiveness in their lives. People were often dazzled about the outside physical healing, but the more critical recovery happened on the inside.

Jesus heals by extending grace. Grace assures you that everything has been taken care of.  There is no sin too big, no sin too extreme that God did not die for on that cross.

You may have a lot of stuff underneath your cushions. God wants to flip over those cushions, remove all the junk, and replace it with His grace. The key to forgiving others well is first to be forgiven yourself. A forgiven person is a forgiving person.

Challenge

Identify an area of unforgiveness in your life. It may be something you haven’t accepted God’s forgiveness for yourself. It may be someone else who you can’t forgive. The challenge today is to identify it. Commit to starting the journey of forgiveness in your life, and it all begins with understanding what God did for you.