The scent of the rose

"Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?"

Jesus answered,  "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven." 

(Matthew 18:21-23)

Let me share with you something I have been meditating on for quite a while now: Jesus' call to forgive. We believe we are good people and that we are truly practicing forgiveness. That's what good people do. Still a weight holds us down and prevents us to be close to God.
We carry on living our lives thinking that we are doing everything we can do to live accordingly to the Gospel. And yet we are not flying high or high enough. What is this load that we cannot see in our lives? What is the weight that keeps us bound to the ground?

"Son of man, you are living among a rebellious people. They have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious people." 

(Ezekiel 12:2)

Then it comes the time when we get a glimpse of the truth. We are rebellious people. We see without seeing and hear without hearing. People who may and do forgive - especially when we think that forgiving is a very honourable thing to do. Do we forget? Rarely. It is difficult to forget when we are hurt. We most likely cling to our memories and stay hurt. Little by little, unpleasant memories pile up and we grow used to the fact that we carry them with us. Without forgetting, there is no true forgiving. This is the weight that needs to be removed to fly high.

"And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins." 

(Mark 11:25)

Jesus says very clearly that we have to forgive. He teaches us very clearly that we get what we give.

The key is that little word "as". Every Christian prays the "Our Father" asking God to "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us". That little word "as" makes a whole lot of difference. It is not if we forgive or when we forgive, it is as. We are forgiven in the same measure we forgive. We are asking God to treat us exactly how we treat the people we are upset with. And we do not want God to remember our sins.

Imagine the most beautiful and perfect of the roses. You can smell its attracting scent. It permeates the air and expands all over the place. Everybody is aware of the presence of the rose because of its perfume, even if they cannot see it.

In a world where people do not forget, Jesus calls us to forget and forgive. If we forgive like Jesus calls us to, we will be preachers without the need for words. We will be the scent of the rose, attracting people to Christ.

"Apart from me you can do nothing." 

(John 15:5)

Since nothing we can do without Christ, real forgiveness must come from Christ and with Christ. Jesus Christ - the eternal present - can step into our wounded past and heal it if we let Him to.

Lord Jesus Christ,

I ask today to forgive everyone in my life.

I know that You will give me the strength to

forgive and I thank You that You love me more

than I love myself and want my happiness more than

I desire it for myself.

Lord Jesus, I want to be free from the feelings of resentment, bitterness, and

I especially pray for the grace of forgiveness for the one

person in life who has hurt me the most.

I ask to forgive

anyone who I consider my greatest enemy, the one who is the

hardest to forgive or the one who I said I will never forgive. 
(Prayer for healing)