How to Follow Christ – Forgivingness – Seeking It

Greetings Dear Reader,

I have said this before but it bears repeating; if you think you do not need forgiveness just ask those closest to you what your faults are.  No matter what we believe about God we need forgiveness from each other daily.  We become tolerant of our own minor unkindness to each other.  We accept that we take others for granted.  We allow our own selfishness to seem less than that of others.  We become dulled to the ways in which we hurt each other and think our damage dealing is not as bad as the next fellows.

If we can spare a moment to be honest we can see that we need forgiveness every day.  The word is not popular but I sin daily.  I can be impatient, demanding, selfish, and controlling.  Sometimes I can be all of those at once.  I have great sins that have hurt others.  I have minor sins that I indulge daily without even thinking about it.  The problem is that no wrongs done to others are minor.

This leads to what Christ has to say about seeking forgiveness.  We are to seek it whether we think we are wrong or not.  If we know that someone has something against us we are to reconcile it as quickly as possible.  We are to even leave what we are doing to make things right.  The important thing here is if we think someone has something against us not if we think we have done wrong. 

The idea of forgiveness is reconciliation.  It is about living in peace with others.  It is about showing Christ to others by trampling our own pride.  I live this out by not accepting that saying I am sorry is enough.  I must always live in the knowledge that if I am to follow Christ I must not leave any room for pride to mask my brokenness.  If I allow pride to make me think better of myself than I am then I am not showing my need for forgiveness and cannot help others see that they need it.

It is in my broken crooked honesty that Christ can be seen by others.  My pride gets in the way of this.  Unless I daily review my actions and seek forgiveness when needed I cannot hope to follow Christ with all my heart.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store."