C
Matthew 5:43-48- NKJV
43You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy'44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45"that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He make His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 "And if you greet your brethren only what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? 48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in Heaven is perfect.
I believe we all struggle in our own ways of forgiving those who wrong us and I am one of them, although it is a work in progress. I believe there is a dimension of God's love that can be experienced in no other way than through forgiving those who have become enemies. God is not asking anything of us that he himself has already done. When we consider that all men have offended God, becoming his enemy, and that God has loved us anyway and has forgiven us, it is easier to understand why God tell us us to forgive.
I also believe we must recognize resentment against others and learn to forgive them and once we have forgiven them we are then encouraged to repent of our feelings. After recognizing and repenting of those feelings we need to praying for those people who persecuted us.
43You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy'44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45"that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He make His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 "And if you greet your brethren only what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? 48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in Heaven is perfect.
I believe we all struggle in our own ways of forgiving those who wrong us and I am one of them, although it is a work in progress. I believe there is a dimension of God's love that can be experienced in no other way than through forgiving those who have become enemies. God is not asking anything of us that he himself has already done. When we consider that all men have offended God, becoming his enemy, and that God has loved us anyway and has forgiven us, it is easier to understand why God tell us us to forgive.
I also believe we must recognize resentment against others and learn to forgive them and once we have forgiven them we are then encouraged to repent of our feelings. After recognizing and repenting of those feelings we need to praying for those people who persecuted us.