This week we have been talking about forgiveness as a characteristic of love. In any long term positive relationship, there will be opportunities for forgiveness. Misunderstandings occur, we can offend others, and we can do hurtful things. We can be the one who offended another, and sometimes that happens without us even realizing it. I’ve had someone come up to me and say I forgive you, and I had no idea they were not offended by me. That can happen when we innocently walk past someone without acknowledging them, or when they think I am thinking one thing when I am not. I have made a choice in my own life to be un offendable. I’m not sure that is a word, but there are times when there is the opportunity to be offended, and I choose not to get offended. That’s being unoffendable! Let’s always choose to walk in love. There are times to address hurtful situations, but we can be confident , that God will give the necessary grace to cover offenses. When we put ourselves in the other’s shoes, we can often see things from a totally different perspective and it changes the situation dramatically. To be un offendable, takes believing the best in people. It takes realizing that someone might be having a hard day. It takes an understanding that there are battles people are facing in their lives that we may never know about. It takes understanding that hormones, emotions and pain can make people do things that they don’t mean to do and say things they don’t mean to say. It takes love! It takes forgiveness! It takes the Word of God on the inside of us to keep our mouths and our hearts lined up with God’s thoughts and actions. We know that His thoughts are higher than ours, but we can walk the higher road, and begin seeing things how he sees them. Life and relationships deserve our forgiveness. Let’s become mature in our relationships, and make the choice to forgive. We have that power available through Christ, let’s be the best forgivers on the planet!
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