Forgiving Living

The other day I was sitting on a quilt out front with my two grandsons and a basket filled with toys. The two and a half year old was playing with his little golf set and the nine month old kept busy crawling around and standing up with a toy in his hand. It was such a beautiful afternoon, and I was so happy to have Sabrina and her two little boys around.

Then the infractions began. Conner decided that he was done playing golf in the yard and decided that he wanted to sit on the blanket with me and Hayden and play with the toys in the basket. That was all fine and good until he realized that playing on the quilt put him into "Hayden banging range."

Hayden is nine months old. He is the cutest little fellow on the planet. And he loves his older brother more than any other young person in the world. But he is a baby. And the way babies play is by banging things around.

"He's hitting me!" Conner cried. "Hayden's hitting me with his toy!"

"I'm so sorry about that," I told Conner, "He doesn't mean to hurt you. He's just a baby and that's what babies do."

"But he's hurting me!"

"I know, come over here and sit with me. I'm sorry that Hayden is hitting you. That isn't very nice, is it? But he doesn't really know any better, so you must forgive him." I told him as I rocked him and held him real close.

"But he's going to do it again!"

"Yes," I said to my little wise-beyond-his-years grandson, "He probably will do it again. And we must forgive him again . . . and again and again . . . because he really doesn't know any better."

After I said this Conner gave me a warm and happy look and we just snuggled safely together for a few minutes and then he forgot all about being offended and went off to play with his golf set again.

I have been thinking a lot about this little encounter over the past few days. I have thought about how important it is for ALL of us to realize that in this world, we SHALL have tribulation . . . but take heart . . . Jesus has come to help us overcome the world.

"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." John 16:33

And how did He overcome the world? Through the forgiveness of sins! I think as born again Christian women we sometimes forget about this, don't we?

We remind ourselves of the death, burial and resurrection, the miracles that He performed, and the way that He is preparing a place for us in Heaven when we die . . . but we forget the purpose of it all . . . and that was to provide us with the forgiveness that we need so that we would be able to SOMEDAY enjoy it all.

Forgiveness is such an important thing. If Conner doesn't learn to forgive his little brother now, he will ruin the wonderful relationship that he was meant to enjoy with him later on.

The same goes for us. Every day we are offended by someone we love who doesn't really mean to offend us like they do. The ungrateful husband. The stubborn child. The self-centered friend. The frustrated store worker. The greedy brother or sister. The negligent mother or father. Sometimes it seems like some people LIVE to offend us in one way or another, doesn't it?

But the truth of the matter is that most people don't really know what they are doing when they offend us like they do. They are just like little baby Hayden ~ doing what they know to do, without any idea of how it may be harming you.

Learn to forgive. Learn to let things go. Understand that because people are sinners, and that sometimes they are going to sin against you. And when they do it again, forgive them. And when they do it again, you must learn to forgive them again. And when you find yourself struggling with this, remind yourself that you are a sinner that sins against other and offends people too.

I was reminded of this after Conner got up and went back to playing with his golf set. It wasn't but a few minutes later that his swinging was starting to affect the safety of the baby.

"Conner, take that golf set over there," we told him, "You are too close to the blanket and you are going to hurt the baby."

"Ok," he said, and then he just kept playing right where he was playing.

The Bible tells us in Romans 3:23 and 6:23, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God," and "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Don't you think that since God gave us the gift of forgiveness through Jesus that we needed . . . that we should be able to give others the forgiveness that they need . . . through Him . . . as well?