SOUL RESET: Forgive Without Compromising Your Peace預覽

Yesterday, we exposed three myths about forgiveness and reconciliation.

Today, I want to help you understand what forgiveness means. Here's my definition: Forgiveness is giving up my pursuit of revenge and trusting God to bring justice.

This definition contains two essential parts. The first part, giving up my pursuit of revenge, is focused on what I stop doing. The second part, trusting God to bring justice, focuses on what starts in my relationship with God. Let's look at both elements using Jacob's story.

When Jacob fled from Esau twenty years earlier, his brother wanted revenge. But look at what happens in Genesis 33. "And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him...He himself went on before them, bowing himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother."

Notice what's missing? Jacob has no army, no weapons, and no plan for revenge. He had given up any right to get even with Esau for threatening his life. Instead, he approached with humility and trust in God's protection.

When we forgive someone, we surrender our right to get even. We stop plotting revenge. We stop hoping they'll "get what's coming to them." We stop telling others stories to make them look bad. We lay down our weapons - whether they're physical, emotional, or verbal.

But giving up revenge isn't enough. We also must trust that God knows how to bring justice better than we do. Paul writes in Romans 12:19, "Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, 'Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.'"

This is where many people get stuck. They say, "I've forgiven them," but secretly hope God will make that person suffer. That's not forgiveness - that's just outsourcing your revenge to God! True forgiveness means trusting that God knows what justice should look like better than we do.

Remember, forgiveness involves you. You can forgive someone even if they never apologize, even if they're no longer alive, or even if they continue to deny what they did. Why? Because forgiveness is about your heart, not their response.

This truth changed everything when I held onto bitterness about my old bosses, who lied to me repeatedly. I realized I could forgive them without waiting for them to repent. I could surrender my right to revenge and trust God with justice - even if my bosses never acknowledged their actions. I wanted to be free more than I wanted to get revenge. Freedom motivated me to lay down my pursuit of revenge, as I trusted God to bring justice and heal my heart from the hurts they caused.

Tomorrow, we'll look at what happens after forgiveness - when reconciliation might be possible and when it might not be wise. But today, ask yourself: What would it look like to honestly give up your pursuit of revenge? What's holding you back from trusting God with justice in your situation?

I want you to know the power of freedom that I found!