forgiveness – B Is for Blessed!

Get Over It!

I was speaking with my oldest son about making good choices and telling him not to make the same mistakes I had. In his teenage wisdom, this kid told me to “get over it.”

If one of my kids tells me to “get over it,” there is a huge problem. My first instinct was to look behind me and see exactly who he was talking to!

God spoke to me through my child. It is hardly the first time He has done that.

I suspect most of us have an “it” that holds the potential to keep us from God’s very best. Sometimes a painful reminder, or being tired and cranky allows our “it” to rear its ugly head.

Regret can morph into resentment and erode any forgiveness we “think” we have given.

When we don’t “get over it” once and for all our “it” will surely find its way back to us.

We are taught to forgive others as God forgives us.

Yet, often the hardest person to forgive is our self.

We may readily forgive others yet still cling to our own mistakes wondering about what could have been instead of what can be.

Abraham was instructed to leave his family and go forth into a new place God had for him. Still, Abraham took his nephew Lot with him. Eventually, that didn’t go very well and Lot received the best of the land that was divided between them.

Abraham got over it.

Abraham knew that whatever he had with God was far more than anything Lot could take away from him.

We would all do well to remember this very thing.

Whatever we lose, or mistake we make is insignificant compared to God’s best.

In our weakness, He is strong.

Bury the past in an unmarked grave and concentrate on new opportunities God can provide this year.

Get over it and get moving.

God is waiting on you!

“Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.”
Philippians 3:13-15 NKJV

*** If you have lost your resolve and your resolutions fell by the wayside, simply pick them up.

Each day is a new opportunity to begin again…

A is for Anger Management

“Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; Do not fret—it only causes harm,” Psalms 37:8 NKJV

Anger management is an important tool for living. The Bible is very clear about anger’s destructive potential.

Anger spreads quickly like a spark igniting dry brush in the wild. Like fire, it spreads far quicker that it can be extinguished. It is the emotion that leads people to make hasty decisions, regrettable mistakes, and to speak words that can never be taken back.

Anger is easily fueled, grows exponentially, and wreaks havoc in people’s lives. Instead of giving in to feelings of wrath, don’t speak or act in haste. Be silent and be still. Allow God’s Word to dictate your behavior.

Anger management isn’t always easy. In fact, it is rarely so. You may have every right to be angry. Disappointment, betrayal, and a host of injustices can evoke this primal reaction in almost everyone. However, feelings are often deceptive but the Word of God is true.

If you are serious in pursuit of the best life possible, get a grip on your anger by giving it to God. Allow Him to extinguish your wrath and propel you above your emotions. If you have anger management “issues”, pray on it. Don’t stay on it.

Learn to manage your anger before it manages you.

“He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, And he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city,” Proverbs 16:32 NKJV

”The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger, And his glory is to overlook a transgression,” Proverbs 19:11 NKJV

“Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” Ephesians 4:31-32 NKJV

Goal Oriented!

“Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,

I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.” Philippians 3 13-15 NKJV

Clean cuts

“And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell,” Matthew 5:30 NKJV

I know a gentleman who suffered over a year with an infection in his lower leg. He was on all kinds of oral medications, IV medications and various wound treatments in an effort to get well. During this treatment, side effects from his medications made him ill. He never felt well and complained often about how his entire body and not just his leg suffered. His blood was monitored often to make sure the medications that were used to treat the infection did not harm his vital organs. His doctors were constantly on alert to make sure his infection had not spread. The entire ordeal left him weak and miserable daily.

Finally, his doctors decided the treatment he was receiving was not enough to kill the infection or keep it from spreading. In fact, his medical team was forced to amputate his lower leg. If his infected leg remained, the bacteria would spread throughout his body and kill him.

About a month after his surgery, I asked him how he was feeling. He declared, “I haven’t felt this good in years.” He was no longer relegated to taking an arsenal of medications that left him feeling poorly. His infected lower leg had been removed but he was now very mobile with his new prosthesis. He was actually moving around better than he had before the amputation.

He now felt healthy, was happy and had a positive outlook on life.

Likewise, it is necessary that we make certain “cuts” in our own lives that would leave us better. Instead of making a clean break from anger, guilt, regret, disappointment and un-forgiveness we sometimes “nurse” these things instead. We often try to repair our feelings and emotions instead of cutting them off all together. Some people are haunted years later by mistakes God has forgiven decades earlier. They allow guilt or bitterness to remain, infecting them and robbing them of a better quality of life. There is no freedom in “forgiveness” when you insist on making your offender acknowledge the offense time and time again. An unforgiving spirit does very little to the offending person in comparison to the damage it wrecks on the person who refuses to forgive.

Forgiveness is often hard. However living with unforgiveness is much harder.

Anger, bitterness, guilt, and spite can be deadly. They often cause both mental anguish and physical decay. Worse of all is those suffering under these afflictions don’t recognize the toil these toxic characteristics take on themselves and the people around them!

Bitterness drains. Peace sustains.

Is there anything you need to cut away today?