Forgive Others as God Forgave You ~ Bible Verses & Scripture Quotes; Forgive Others as God in Christ Forgave You ~ Don’t be a bad guy!

Forgive Others as God Forgave You ~ Bible Verses & Scripture Quotes;
Forgive Others as God in Christ Forgave You ~ Don’t be a bad guy!

First we look at some Inspiring Scriptures. Scroll down for Inspiring Story.
Ephesians 4:32, NIV Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Colossians 3:13, NLT Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.
Matthew 6:14, NIV For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

Luke 6:37, ESV Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven;
Luke 17:3-4, ESV Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.
See also: Bible Verses about Forgiveness, Forgiving Others, Forgiving Yourself
Ephesians 4:6, ESV Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,
Mark 11:25, ESV And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.

12/21/2010 ~ “Don’t be a bad guy”
Just the other day, our 5 and 3 year old boys had been playing happily for a while…. until they had a disagreement. I’ll spare you the details of what led to that lol, but the summary is that my 5yr old got mad at my 3yr old, and made it very clear to him.
And then it happened. My 3yr old hit my 5yr old – smack! Right on the head. I rushed to the scene, and my 5 year old was naturally very upset. Sorry big guy, I said to him. Are you ok? Pele! After calming him down and making sure he was ok, I grabbed my 3yr old by the hand, walking quickly down the hallway, very annoyed.

We got to the end of the hallway and the interrogation began lol. Why did you hit your brother on the head? I demanded. “Because he was mad at me!” came his answer. I certainly wasn’t expecting that answer. What? You hit him on the head because he was mad at you? oh boy… 😕 lol. You can’t bully your brother into not being mad at you, I gently explained to him. When someone gets mad at you, you should ask them why they’re not happy with you if you don’t know – then tell them you’re sorry if you need to. You can’t force a person into “not being mad at you”. Ok? “Ok Mommy”, he said, with his best “I’m sorry I did that” look :).

I told him to face the wall for a few minutes, and to think some more about what he had done. By the way, in case you’re not familiar with the concept of “facing the wall” – it is the African version of a time out. You pretty much ask your child to stand (or sit) facing a wall, and they can’t look at anything except a blank wall for a few minutes. They absolutely hate it lol. And it works – they are usually very repentant at the end of it lol! So anyway, after my little guy’s time out was done, he yelled “I won’t do that again!” – And I asked him to go apologize to his brother.

I’m sorry 🙁… My 3yr old said to his big brother. Just to give you a little background – Typically, when the kids apologize to each other, the response from the offended party when all becomes well and good is “That’s ok”. This time, instead of hearing my 5yr old just say “that’s ok”, I heard him say – “That’s ok, I forgive you”!
My 3yr old and I were sooo happy! 🙂

That’s great that you forgave your brother – I said to my 5yr old. I’m so proud of you both! You know what my 5yr old’s reply was? “Mommy, only a bad guy wouldn’t forgive!” And there are no bad guys in this house, we all agreed. My goodness – I was so touched :)! I was over the moon with excitement – the kids were beginning to really grasp the concept of forgiveness and how important it is to forgive. I know we all still have a lot to learn about many things, but I am thrilled that we are all on the right path, by God’s grace :)!

Later on, I started thinking some more about what he had said. It really boils down to that, doesn’t it? We’ve heard a variation of this before and we will probably hear it again. But it’s so true – If we want to be true followers of Christ, obeying our Father, imitating Him in all that we do, we will forgive others, we won’t hold a grudge (so help us God), and we will seek to be at peace with everyone we are connected with. We will always do all we can to seek, pursue, and maintain peace. Don’t get me wrong, just as I am learning, forgiveness and setting boundaries are not mutually exclusive. By all means, we should have healthy boundaries in our relationships – it’s just the wise thing to do.

However, we can’t on the one hand be going to church, praising God and saying we are followers of God, when on the other hand we are holding a grudge against others and not extending the hand of forgiveness to them. So like what these scriptures say, right? —
Colossians 3:13 “Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” (NIV)
Luke 6:36, 37c “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” (NIV)

3 John 1:11 “Dear friend, Follow only what is good. Remember that those who do good prove that they are God’s children, and those who do evil prove that they do not know God.” (NLT)
Romans 12:18 “Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.” (NLT)
More: Living in Peace with Others
Psalm 34:14 “Turn away from evil and do good. Search for peace, and work to maintain it.” (NLT)

May we always remember to run very far away from evil – which certainly includes harboring unforgiveness. May we instead always run after good, to “seek peace and pursue it”, and to “do all we can to live in peace with everyone” (including and most importantly, our heavenly father!). May we always remember that “only a bad guy would not forgive” 😉 , and there are no bad guys in this house, correct? 🙂 ?

May we always remember the reason for this immeasurable and indescribable gift from God – Jesus Christ – the reason we celebrate Christmas. May we continually bless others (and ourselves) with the gift of forgiveness and letting go; and simultaneously bless God, our Father, with the gift of obedience, as we continually do what he wants us to do… always by His Grace and His ever present Help.
May every area of our lives ever be a sweet and pleasing aroma unto God. Amen!!!

If there is someone you need to forgive, if there is any grudge or hurt you are holding on to, if there is anything you need to let go of, please, please, by God’s grace and strength and help, please… GO RIGHT AWAY – Do it right away!!! Don’t wait. Just do it – Following Christ 100%. Let’s let go of the poison of unforgiveness.

Don’t be a bad guy, please, forgive :)! If you need help letting go of a terrible hurt, go to God in prayer. Ask God to help you – God will not abandon us and not help us when we need Him the most. But please, start taking those steps towards “seeking peace”. Let’s live lives that please God!

By the way, sometimes after you’ve forgiven a person, something might just bring the hurts back to your memory and it feels like the hurt is starting all over again – you might wonder – have I truly forgiven them? I think that we can (and should) make the choice to forgive and move on, but really – the healing process may sometimes take a little while to be complete. But God is certainly more than able to see us through!

In the past, when I remembered things that brought pain, I immediately prayed and tried to shift my focus on to God and His word (i.e. Fixing your eyes on God). I tried to think about the big picture. Over time, I found that I stopped getting those feelings when I remembered…I felt healed! God is certainly more than able to see us through – please, be encouraged! See also: When life gives you disappointments and pain

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Thanks for reading, Dear Friends!
Have a wonderfully blessed, stress-free, productive, and joyful day!
Much Love & Blessings,
Bomi Jolly ~ JollyNotes.com