Dont ever FORGET what He did for you

I get as frustrated with people as the next person, and sometimes more than the next person. One of my dear friends once told me, "You canNOT hold people to the same standards that you hold yourself" and as I nodded, I thought to myself, WHY NOT? I used to have the opinion that if people were choosing to be in your life, then they should JUST DO WHAT YOU WANT!

Clearly, as God often shows me, I am WRONG, again!
Its definitely been taking some getting used to, this whole growing up thing. Being able to admit that I am wrong and that some of the things I just "KNEW" to be true a few months ago are in fact, false, unbiblical and pretty selfish.

The Main POint of this post though, is about FORGIVENESS! I was at Singles bible study a few weeks ago and a young couple was speaking about a few things and the husband mentioned something that definitely stuck with me. He said Marriage is about Love and Commitment and all that, YES, but it is also grounded very strongly on forgiveness. For those who dont believe, thing about how frustrating ANY kind of relationship is with a person who somehow remembers EVERY wrong thing you ever did. It is like they want you to be perfect (which you arent)and PUNISH you for ever instance when you are not. His argument was built around the fact that we WILL mess up in our relationships, and we will be offended by other people, but the Heart to forgive is SO important to heal from those hurts.

A famous quote say to Err is Human, but to Forgive is Divine.

DIVINE, huh? Like from Above...Like from Heaven. Which is my real point. John 3:16 which we all love to quote reminds us of God's Love which is so great that he gave his son that we may have life. The reason that Love is SO MIND blowing is that we do NOT deserve it. I mean, its like if you go to work and earn a wage, getting that text message that you got paid is not MINDblowing, its EXPECTED. But if you called in sick everyday for a month and you got paid, OR you quit a job and they still kept paying you, You'd be confused and EXCITED.

The reason we do not deserve God's love is that we are UNWORTHY, filthy and sinful creatures and we do NOT deserve the MAGNIFICIENT Love of a PERFECT, JUST God! We just DON'T! We cannot! Our "righteousness" like a filthy rag! BUT though our SINS, MY SINS, my lust, my lies, my pride, my envy, my malice....may be as scarlet they shall be white as snow Isaiah 1:18. No wonder we are referred to as Saints in the New Testament.

Anyway, when we harbor Unforgiveness in our heart about the wrongs that people have done us, REMEMBER your wrongs are MUCH GREATER and much worse. And HE forgave YOU!
So be joyful and show mercy unto others, its not really about them!

One little anecdote before I end this post:
A few years ago, a friend really hurt my feelings once, at the time I even referred to it as breaking my heart (now, I think I was probably a bit dramatic). I held on to it for awhile! And it took me TOO long to forgive and then furthermore to forget. Anyway, on a random weekend, the Lord put it on my heart to let this go, and stop holding on to the pain cuz it was really hurting me. And I made the decision to let it go and be DONE! And less than a week later, I get the most RANDOM text from this guy asking for my forgiveness for his actions years ago! I mean, WHAT WERE the chances, and I responded that I appreciate the apology, but forgiveness had already happened. So the message there is FORGIVE people, EVEN if they haven't asked for it.