The Pay-off of Forgiveness

Those who are forgiven much, love much.

The key to this is knowing you're forgiven. I think the hardest part of forgiveness is accepting it. We have hearts full of "I don't deserve this" or heads full of "this can't be real" and maybe even attitudes full of "I've done nothing wrong."

Something happens to you when you're "forgiven much." If you really embrace this idea, and know that you needed forgiveness, and were granted forgiveness, then you have it to give. You have to love yourself to let forgiveness in, you know, in a Godly sort of way. And if you love yourself like God loves you, you're not too threatened to love others with that same love and forgiveness.

I heard about forgiveness first from a Lutheran pastor who told me that those who are forgiven much, love much. It's in Luke chapter 7. He was paraphrasing. It worked. I got it.

Forgiveness pays off with love.

I've been forgiven much and I hope it's beginning to show.

Much love,
Kim

Big Pill, Send Water

German theologian-pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed for opposing the Nazi regime. Here is what he had to say about his enemy:

"Nothing that we despise in the other man is entirely absent from ourselves. We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or don't do, and more in the light of what they suffer."

I don't want these words to be true, but something about looking in the mirror tells me they are. AND I have this weird tendency to WANT my enemies to suffer. At least he said that what I despise in another is not "entirely absent" in me, as though I am bad, too, but not THAT bad.  Of course, he could have left us with an even worse pill to swallow, like Jesus did, and reminded us to actually LOVE our enemies. Something about "regard" seems easier than "love" but I guess it's a start.


Warm regards...just kidding, Much LOVE,
Kim

PS - I'd love to hear your inspiration on this subject.