Forgiving enemies is just plain hard. There’s no forgiveness on/off switch in our hearts. But lately I’ve been wondering if forgiveness is a lot like love. You know: When you give it away, it multiplies and comes back to you.
Forgiveness is not an event. It’s a lifestyle. God doesn’t expect us to forgive perfectly every time. But God is encouraging us to live our lives with forgiveness as our North Star.
To be clear, forgiveness cannot erase pain or eliminate the need for justice. But forgiveness is God’s gift to us. The Holy Spirit empowers us to share that gift with others. Fortunately, forgive- ness, like most things, gets easier with practice. The more we remain open to the Spirit, the more able we are to forgive.
This message is an excerpt of “Love my enemies, too?!” by Angela Khabeb in the July/August 2019 issue of Gather magazine. Today we observe Veterans Day in the U.S. and remember Martin, Bishop of Tours, who died in 397, and Søren Aabye Kierkegaard, teacher, who died in 1855.
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