Have you been hurt by someone recently? Or perhaps you are still holding onto pain from years ago, unable to find forgiveness in your heart.
You aren’t alone.
We have all been offended, wronged, hurt, and mistreated by another person at some point in our lives. And while we have all experienced this pain on different levels, we are all called to respond in the same way: Forgiveness.
This might be easier for some than it is for others, and I have deep empathy for those that want to forgive but are struggling to get there. You may be asking, “If someone wronged me, why am I the one that’s supposed to forgive?”
Kirk Cameron recently answered this question in his weekly video series inside the exclusive community called The Campfire. Kirk takes a hard look at why we need to forgive, what it means to really forgive someone, and how we need to go about doing it.
He begins by sharing that without forgiveness, his marriage of 27 years would be non-existent. He explains that “Forgiveness has been the glue that held us together when we’ve hurt one another.”
But really… Should we always forgive no matter what?
Kirk says yes.
“Because of God’s willingness to forgive me, it changes everything, and it’s on that basis that God commands us to forgive everyone who hurts us.”
He then clarifies that this does not mean we are expected to ignore pain or to pretend like someone didn’t hurt you. In the same way, Jesus didn’t ignore sin, but He did die on the cross for ours.
Okay, so we are called to forgive. Easier said than done, right? How does someone actually and truthfully forgive the person who has hurt them the most?
Kirk shares that we have to look at forgiveness as a two-part process, and the first part involves a prayer between you and God.
“God, I’m coming to you with this pain, I’m coming with this broken heart, I’m laying down the bitterness, and I’m asking you to take away the bitterness”…”Give me the strength to show kindness to this person.”
The second part of the process is being kind to the person in the same way that God has shown you kindness through the cross.
To watch the full video, click here to sign up for The Campfire.
