Forgiveness

Do you have to forgive someone for something they never did?  Okay, so you could probably argue that sometimes things should have been done and now you have to forgive someone for not doing them.  What I’m suggesting here though, is if it didn’t happen there’s nothing to forgive.  Seems pretty straight forward, right?

So what if you could get to a place in thought – a spiritual place – that forgave and erased even those things that did occur?  How would that improve your life?  Would that kind of freedom be worth pursuing?  That’s the kind of forgiveness that Jesus preached when he was on the cross (see Luke 23:34).  And a forgiveness he lived both before and after that awful event.  Okay, so you’re saying “but that was Jesus – what about me?”  What about you?  Have you had anything happen to you that even begins to approach the crucifixion?

Every lesson Jesus taught, every work that he worked, he guaranteed that we could (would, should) do the same (see John 14:12).  He didn’t leave forgiveness out.  In fact, Jesus taught that we must be willing to forgive in every instance, no fewer than 490 times.  490 times!  Can you imagine?  (see Matt 18:22)

But I want to get back to my original premise: that there is a spiritual viewpoint that erases the offense so thoroughly that there is nothing left to forgive.  The transformation that would take place in thought as you beheld this new possibility would change you, free you.  And, interestingly enough, it would change and free your perpetrator as well.  I’m not suggesting that it will happen overnight – you would have to work at lifting your thought above the issue to a more Godlike and holy outlook.  But I am saying it is possible.  It is possible to so heal your perspective that you are freed from the anger, the disappointment, the pain, and the fear.

If you want that kind of freedom and the peace that comes with it, there is a solution.  A real and permanent solution.  And you can have it now.

Melissa Hayden is a Christian Science practitioner in Salem, OR. You can find more information and additional articles at this link.  If you like what you’re reading, click the “add me” button.