Today 09/29/2021
3 years ago
Monday, October 22, 2007
Saturday, October 06, 2007
The most amazing lesson in forgiveness
I had lunch at Applebee's with one of my best friends here in Loma Linda, someone that I've known since before I moved down here two years ago. I had specifically asked her to have lunch with me, since I knew I needed to talk to her about something that I'd been putting off for way too long, months actually. Without going into any details, I didn't tell her about something that occurred months ago, and have since lied about it and made up details to cover up that fact that things aren't exactly the way that they would be if said event hadn't occurred. I didn't tell her originally because I didn't want to hurt her, and I didn't want her to be disappointed with me...I don't know what I thought would eventually happen, I really have no idea...
She had every right to never want to speak to me again... As we sat down at the restaurant, and I began by saying, "I better just say what I need to say now..." because I knew it wasn't going to get any easier, I followed that up by saying, "And if after I say this you want to get up and leave, I'll understand, because you'll have every right to..."
But after I told her the truth, she looked at me and said, "It's okay." She said that multiple times as I kept trying to tell her that it wasn't okay, that what I had done was terrible. But without a second thought, she just forgave me. And she even went on to say that she didn't want things to be awkward between us, that this whole thing was under the rug and done with now. I went on to say that she'd have every right to never believe another word I said, but she simply said, "But I won't have to worry about that now, will I?"
As we parted ways, she said, "So now we're done with this, and we won't have to talk about it again." Forgive and forget. Afterwards, I found myself wondering why Christ had so fully lifted me from any lasting consequences of this, because sin does have consequences... And then I realized, He wanted to teach me an even more important lesson, that of forgiveness. I so often feel that what I have done is so awful, so terrible, that I cannot possibly be forgiven. But if my friend could so easily forgive me and restore our fellowship and allow our friendship to not be awkward, how much more does God do this for me when I confess my sin, stop doing it, and seek His forgiveness?
She had every right to never want to speak to me again... As we sat down at the restaurant, and I began by saying, "I better just say what I need to say now..." because I knew it wasn't going to get any easier, I followed that up by saying, "And if after I say this you want to get up and leave, I'll understand, because you'll have every right to..."
But after I told her the truth, she looked at me and said, "It's okay." She said that multiple times as I kept trying to tell her that it wasn't okay, that what I had done was terrible. But without a second thought, she just forgave me. And she even went on to say that she didn't want things to be awkward between us, that this whole thing was under the rug and done with now. I went on to say that she'd have every right to never believe another word I said, but she simply said, "But I won't have to worry about that now, will I?"
As we parted ways, she said, "So now we're done with this, and we won't have to talk about it again." Forgive and forget. Afterwards, I found myself wondering why Christ had so fully lifted me from any lasting consequences of this, because sin does have consequences... And then I realized, He wanted to teach me an even more important lesson, that of forgiveness. I so often feel that what I have done is so awful, so terrible, that I cannot possibly be forgiven. But if my friend could so easily forgive me and restore our fellowship and allow our friendship to not be awkward, how much more does God do this for me when I confess my sin, stop doing it, and seek His forgiveness?
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