Give it Away

Good Morning Fellow Travellers,

I heard a compelling discussion about that line in the Lord's Prayer the other day.   It says "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors".

I wonder how many times we've mumbled along, saying the Lord's Prayer corporately but never giving it a second thought.  The leader of this particular discussion directed our thoughts to Romans 4:4

"Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. (ESV) And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.” 

And then he skips ahead to verse 8 where it says, "Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin".

I think perhaps it's a bit 'timely' that this thinking about forgiveness is in my mind this week. We have rented out our house for the last 18 months as we've been travelling out of Australia. Now the 'day of reckoning' has come and we're in the process of getting our house back.  There are time concerns as we are again renting it, this time to a lovely Christian couple who need a break at the moment and are taking our house as a gift, both from them to us, by keeping the house safe, but also from us to them until they can find permanent lodging. 

However, the yokels who have had our house (under the unwatchable eye of an agent) for the last year and a half have done a LOT of damage.  I could give you a list, but then ALL of us would then need to forgive them!  Suffice it to say we live in a fallen world.

But back to the focus of the Bible study........we need to "forgive our trespassers as we're forgiven our own trespasses.”

I don't know about you, but I've had to do some forgiving in the course of my life.  In the original language of the New Testament, the word 'forgiveness' means to 'Give away".  Isn't that interesting?

If you forgive someone, you literally have to take that debt and, "Give it Away" or in the famous words of "Frozen" you have to 'let it go!"

My daughter, as I was talking to her about this blog reminded me of the favourite phrase, “Forgive and Forget”.

Why is that so hard?  I'll tell you from my perspective at least, it's FUN to keep the memory of the hurt, the slight, the whatever.  It's rewarding in some ways to 'rehash' the offence. It keeps your blood running, this thing that was perpetrated against you.  You can feel sorry for yourself again.........and again. Someone said, "Revenge and Unforgiveness is like drinking poison and hoping the other person dies.” 

Returning to Romans 4, “He who believes in Him Who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness'”.

It's my prayer that I can 'give away' the hurt, the anger, the whatever and live like a King's kid, in the apple of His eye. I would ask for your prayers, especially this week as we sort out the rights and wrongs of this whole caper.  We want to maintain our Christian attitudes and kindness, all the while needing to be able to take possession of the house soon in order to fix it up and let it out to the new guys before we take off for Hawaii in just 9 days!

Exciting times, look for an update next week...........

and remember to 'Give it Away!’

Marsha