Forgiveness is a Choice, Not a Feeling

Since I love the subject, I kind of want to stay on forgiveness a little longer. It seems the world is just out for revenge or quick to blame one party or the next....blah, blah, blah, you get the point. I mean sometimes we might hesitate to forgive someone because we don’t feel very forgiving toward them. We might still feel a great deal of anger toward them. So we examine our emotional state and decide we are not in any condition to forgive. We buy into the error that forgiveness is a feeling.Forgiveness is a choice, not a feeling. Let that sink in a minute. It is about choosing to cancel a debt owed to us. Yes, we might feel that someone owes us an apology, or that they should make up for what they have done to us. They owe us big time man! But forgiveness is releasing them from that debt and giving up the right to be treated fairly by them. Making this choice to forgive may fly in the face of everything we are currently feeling. Our feelings may cry out against the whole idea of forgiveness. But still man, we can choose. This mirrors what God did when he chose to forgive us. Right?Despite the overwhelming rejection and physical pain, Jesus made the decision to forgive.“And Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." And they cast lots to divide his garments.”Luke 23:34 For those of you who have been with us for a while, I can update that I’m still trying to see if there is an exception to this rule excluding having to forgive the man who invented the flat head screw driver and slow left lane drivers...nothing yet, I will report if I find something. Be Nice. Grace wins.