THE COMPLEX PROCESS OF FORGIVING
Matthew 18:21-22 – “Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?
Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.”
Thought Adjuster: “You are asking how to master the process of forgiveness. Remember that it is a PROCESS because it involves brokenness—on the side of both parties involved. The perpetrator broke some part of you due to his/her brokenness.
What makes it difficult is that your noble intentions to forgive and forget are often derailed by the infliction of fresh injuries that reopen unhealed scar tissues. Then, you need to start all over again, or so it feels.
One earns mastery over time. Keep it in mind so that you do not lose heart. The difference between you and Jesus, your Teacher, lays in the state of your spiritual development—your puerility versus his maturity. He mastered the way to gracefully ‘take hits,’ thus becoming an expert in spiritual martial arts.
Despite his wide-open heart—or because of it—he did not take offenses personally. Even though the affronts were malignantly aimed at him, he understood they were projections of imperfect beings on his advanced state of perfection. Due to their lack of objective self-perception, Jesus was an inconvenient mirror that reflected by contrast what they needed to attend to in themselves.
He incarnated in human form to bring spiritual salvation and healing. A successful healer maintains his integrity amidst dysfunctions. Jesus never forgot his calling to be the incarnation of love in action for all to behold—Godlikeness. His radical forgiveness was another facet of such love.
Certainly, he was not exempt from suffering—physical, emotional, and spiritual. Yet, he did not unsoundly dwell on it but brought it as a precious offering on the altar of his divine Indweller so that it be ‘alchemically’ transmuted into a healing balm he generously meted out to his tormentors.
His forgiveness was forgiveness-in-action. It is what made him untouchable and unmanipulable. Because he forgave on the spot, he did not allow the harmful actions of others to take a hold on him and become etched in his cellular memory bank. “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing” was his ever-loving and selfless prayer of intercession.
SELFLESS is the key word. If you do not take offenses personally, how can they take hold on you? The clamoring of your hurt ego is what stands in the way of total forgiveness. “Let go and let God!” is forgiveness’s entry point.”
Remember that healing needs to take place within you before you can forgive whole-heartedly. You may, indeed, need to forgive “seventy times seven.” Your planetary life will provide you ample opportunities to come to embody this great gift—an all-around gift of inner liberation.”
All volumes of the series
“The Inner Sherpa – Daily Manna from Above”
and
“Home Schooled By Spirit – 365 Lessons for Spiritual Living”
are available on Amazon
