Forgiveness, The Creative Gift

“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways!”

Let’s talk about love. The whole world loves love. Everywhere we go people are talking about it. We all need love.

However, we find that love isn’t foolproof.  We find that love isn’t what we’ve hoped it would be.

Relationships break down. Hearts are wounded.  It’s a dream but too often it has no substance.  The disapointments of failed love can become overwhelming. But is there a cure? What is the core reason that love so often fails to be what we had dreamed it would be?

I thought all this over a long time and I searched in deep places. I saw it. The soul is wounded by long seasons lived in ignorance of the cure of forgiveness.

Life experiences taught me some lessons I’d like to share.  I found some help in my love of music and song. I listened to this old song over and over.  See if you hear what I hear.

The lesson in the song is about pride and stubbornness. And it’s cure. Forgiveness…

I found out that real love is created by God and he teaches us in his holy scriptures what love ought to be.

^{1 Corinthians 13:}

^{4 Love} suffers long, and is kind; love does not envy; love does not get proud and haughty, is not puffed up;

⁵ does not behave itself unseemly, seeks not her own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil;

⁶ rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;

⁷ bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

^{8 Love} never fails. 

God created love to be beautiful. True love forgives. It doesn’t carry grudges. Forgiveness is a powerful force. Forgiveness creates newness.

The Holy bible description of love is beautiful, it’s the law of life and love. However, we have to reach for it.

We suffer from our lack of God’s wisdom. We don’t know how to manage our emotions and right relationships are difficult for us. When love is wounded and it fails our emotions take over.

Think about it. Love is so important. It must be guarded. The relationships of man and wife, their children, their lifestyle and the company they keep are the foundation society is built upon. This is the place where we’re established in the behavior patterns that will stay with us throughout our lives.

Sick and hurting marriages and relationships cause ripples of bitterness and strife which effect the atmosphere of our homes and families. Fighting and wars in the home life lay a foundation for deeply ingrained insecurities. Such childhood insecurities remain with us as we grow up and become a part of society. Often, a broken and troubled part.

I’ve found that forgiving is a cure for troubled hearts. It’s a cure for romances and marriages; however, this lesson is not only for those people groups. It applies to all relationships. Brother and sister, parent and child, co-workers.

I think we all can agree that stable, happier people are good for society.

Now I’m here to say that there is good news. We don’t have to live in low places where love always disappoints.  Healing is available.  Forgiveness changes our outlook. A new outlook stirs up a hope for better. That’s true for all the world.

But if we reach deep for a forgiving attitude we get God’s attention. I believe that a willingness to forgive might cause God to begin to work with us in order to turn our mindset to Jesus and his ways.

Jesus saves! It’s not a temporary fix. It’s eternal! When we commit our ways to the Lord we resolve to do love his way. We can unlearn what we’ve learned that causes us difficulty in our relationships. We can overcome.

The word of God says that when our hearts are humble we can change the atmosphere we live in..

Proverbs 4:23

Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

We need the love of the Lord in our lives. In him we can find the stability in our love walk that changes lives. The atmosphere of happy, satisfied hearts is pleasant and encouraging.

While it’s true that we can’t change the world, truth is we can change our own world. If we will take care to pray and learn to apply God’s spiritual laws of love and forgiveness to our relationships we can guard our lives from hurtful failure.

Luke 17:3

Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.

Forgiveness and mercy are powerful forces for good. If we trust God to help us to let go of offenses and live free of bitterness and blame we are acting with wisdom. We discover that it’s so good to live with love and mercy!

I hope you find a key here to create a new way in your life to enjoy happy endings in all your relationships. And my hope is that this blog might stir some hearts to look deeper into scripture and the truths about the salvation to be found in Jesus Christ. Then we can seek those happy endings that are eternal. Blessings in this life, and in the one to come.