The Act of Forgiveness

"Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” Luke 6:37 (NKJV) I have had to come to God many times to help me forgive someone who has hurt me or wronged me in some way — not so much physically, but certainly emotionally. One example I will mention is, when I was quite young, I had a special cat I loved. At that time living on the reserve, we had a day-school teacher who was boarding in our home. He decided one Sunday morning, while my family was in church, to take my cat into the woods and kill it. His reasoning was that he was sure my cat had tuberculosis and he wanted to protect my siblings and me from getting sick. But for many many years this bothered me. I really hated this teacher, but I kept it to myself. It was not until I got much older that I realized I needed to unload this burden I had been carrying. One day, God made it clear to me the need to forgive this teacher. Not to say that what he did was okay, but to let God be the judge and deal with him. It was not easy, but when I did, it was a big relief. When we forgive, in a way we are saying, “I have been hurt. My pain is real. Yet, I know that my Heavenly Father has forgiven me for my sins and wants me to forgive as well. I recognize that holding on to my pain hurts me more than it hurts the other person. Relying on God’s help, I give up my right to condemn the people who hurt me.” If you are dealing with the issue of forgiveness, I pray you are able to let go and let God take control. May God help all of us to work on healthy relationships characterized by love and forgiveness. — Bessie McPeek   Council Fire is a collaboration with Intertribal Life Ministries and Native Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. The Council Fire Daily Devotional Book Set is available on the Intertribal Life Ministries website. Learn more about Council Fire at councilfire365.org