It must be done.

Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Colossians 3:13, NLT

I forgive you. A phrase I, and othera, sometimes find very hard to say, including others who, like me, call themselves Christians. Which is slightly strange, I think... Aren't Christians supposed to be just that - 'Christ ones'? We, Chrsitains, seem to hold ourselves and other Christians to a higher standard then our unsaved family or friends. We expect the pastor to always be available when we need him, we expect our Christian friends to be always loving and never judgemental.

I know many self-professing Christians who refuse to enter a church because the have been 'hurt in(or by) the church'. Yet, when Jesus was here on earth He told us that 'offenses will come'..

The truth is that we will be hurt by people, regardless of whether they are pastors, family members, people who love us or fellow members of the family of God. It's a completely natural part of living here on earth. If we can understand that, it will help us move on and deal with the hurt and, eventually, lead to forgiveness.

I wouldn't call myself an expert on forgiveness, but I'm fairly experienced in hurt. Hurt I've been through has caused my to question my faith. The betrayal of trust has hurt me badly, but had I not forgiven and walked on, I probably be very unlike the person I am today.

We hear the phrase forgive and forget thrown around very carelessly these days, which I would like to argue again. Forgive, yes, but don't forget. Don't ignore. Ignoring is the opposite of forgiving. The key is forgiveness is remembering. Even when we were still locked in our own sin (which hurt God), He loved us and forgave us. His expectation of us is that we will go and do the same. We have no right to harbour unforgiveness to others. We need to accept that hurt will come, and then act swiftly to show forgiveness. God doesn't say 'if' we can forgive, He says we 'must' forgive. It is then that we can heal and move forward.

Such an interesting topic, such little time to write about it... More to come, I promise.