Forgiveness

Very nice post on forgiveness over at theheresy.com. I quote in part:

"Our first internal objection to forgiveness is the need for justice. If I forgive so and so I'm letting them get away with what they have done to me. I disagree with that. God will judge people and that kind of judgement is too much for a victim to bear. It puts us in a place where the memory of our victimization only serves to make us victims once again. We become trapped in it. Eventually this trap begins to change how we see the world and we become oversenstive so that even friendly gestures can be interpreted as another attack.

"I ask God to help me forgive. I become to[o] tired to carry the pain and I want to release it and accept God's comfort and grace. I don't care if my adversary is properly punished I leave that to God as He has a much better grasp of the situation anyway. I feel the burden lift as the Spirit of God raises my eyes. Thank you God for enabling me to forgive. Help me to let you in deeper to my heart too root out all the bitterness and anger."

Brings to mind another new book that I am going to have to read:

Surrendering Retribution in the Psalms
Responses to Violence in the Individual Complaints
Paternoster Biblical Monographs-PBM
by David Firth
Paternoster Press, 2005
xix + 154 pages, English
Paper
ISBN: 184227337X

<idle musing>
There is a saying that Debbie ran across a while back:
"Unforgiveness does more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than the vessel upon which it is poured"

I need to practice forgiveness on a daily basis, Jesus said that if we don't forgive others, we won't be forgiven. Pretty heavy words and worth thinking about. No! Worth putting into practice, daily.
</idle musing>