3-Minute Devotions for MenSmakprov

 BLAME AND FORGIVENESS

If you can offend God through choices you make, and if God had to send His Son to make forgiveness possible, isn’t it obvious that you will sometimes offend or cause pain to others? When you’ve been offended, you may believe your experience is unique and no one has ever endured the same suffering. Maybe that’s true, but offenses happen to someone every minute of every day, so you must know how to respond to them. When someone tells you, “Get over it,” it sounds uncaring, as if you’re supposed to say that the offense was no big deal. But true forgiveness requires naming the sin and who is to blame. In order for God to forgive you, He had to pinpoint your offenses. You must do the same because forgiveness isn’t trivial. You can’t just say, “It’s no big deal.” The only way to get over an offense is to face the issue honestly, acknowledge the hurt, and then intentionally choose to forgive specific offenses. There’s more to experience in life than old hurts. 

Dear God, shine light in my heart to see if I have unforgiven offenses buried there. Show them to me, and then give me the love and mercy to deal with them and forgive.