Another thing I've been thinking about lately is forgiveness. It can be really tough to forgive someone when they hurt you. But really,what good is holding a grudge? It won't change the past at all, it won't fix a relationship, it won't make you feel any better. The same goes for forgiving yourself. It's kinda like pulling out a sliver. It hurts like crap and it definitely seems like you should just be able to leave it in there. Ignore it- it'll only bother you if you push on it. Still, you pull it out because you KNOW that it will get infected, that it's better to go through a the pain now because it will allow your skin to heal. The longer you put it off, the deeper it gets until you really don't know how you're ever going to rid yourself of it. Fortunately, Jesus is our healer. He pretty much just zaps all of our sliver-grudge-thingys away. Well, technically, he already did. Oh, and if you're wondering how exactly to pull out the sliver, here: When you're holding a grudge against a neighbor, you NEED to tell them about it. Get it out in the open. Then, you have to do something a little twisted- ask THEM to forgive YOU. Holding a grudge is a sin too, no matter what was done against you first. Then you let both sins go. Remember their sin no more, like Jesus does for us. There are three verses in the bible that talk about Jesus remembering our sins no more- Jeremiah 31:34, Hebrews 8:12, and Hebrews 10:17. 3 times, must be important! Which brings me to my point about holding grudges on yourself. Forgiveness is what sets us apart from other major religions. Forgiveness is a beautiful free gift. Sometimes we take it for granted, and other times we deprive ourselves of forgiveness because we think we should. We think that in order for Jesus to do this amazing thing for us, we have to at least beat ourselves up inside, because then God will see that we're truly sorry and he'll be pleased... or something. NO! Guess what? There's nothing you have to do to recieve divine forgiveness. Jesus died even for those people who will never turn to Him, who will never acknowledge Him as Savior and Lord, who will never be repentant. So, regardless of who you are, the condition of your heart, your motives, WHATEVER- you're forgiven! Jesus doesn't remember your sins, so why do you hang onto them? Forget the guilt, the pain, the sin itself. You're allowed to do that, it's okay. The only thing to make sure of is that you know not to do it again. Don't forget in the sense that you'll forget the consequences and fall into the same sin again. But if you forgive yourself and do your best to follow Jesus' example, you should be good :)
ANOTHER thing I've been thinking about is how people change. Not like, "Oh you've changed over the summer" but the kind of change that takes effort and planning and time. When I was reading that book "Do Hard Things," I remember something they said about change. It was a little like this: If you want to change something on the inside, you've got to make a change on the outside. Like if you wish you had more time to read your bible and pray (tehe um... :p), then take facebook off your phone, get up earlier, and keep your Bible in a place where you'll see it! There. By making three physical changes, you've taken away a lot of temptation and replaced it with options to live out the change. (lol, I'm gonna do that now by the way!) Something else that applies to this topic is a bit of godly wisdom that I acquired recently, I think it was from a tweet containing a C.S. Lewis quote. Basically, it was saying that God is our strength. And God can do anything, he's perfect, and he wants to help us. So he can and will give us the opportunity and strength to be better people, or more brave, or whatever we need to be that brings us closer to where he is. Trust that God will change you for the better if you ask. We are like clay in the potter's hands. Offer yourself to be molded and changed, and then let God do a work in you.
Isaiah 64:8 "Yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; We are all the work of your hand."
So there's my random thoughts of today. Pray that God puts more blog ideas in my head so that I can keep blogging unrandomly. Oh, one more thought. We are in this world, not of it. We were not made to compromise, to forget who our Father is and make this earth our home. We were created to be different. Do not be afraid of judgement from others who don't understand. Make your faith obvious, show everyone the hope that you have in Jesus!
