Of all the commandments God tells us to do, forgiving others for things they have done against us is one of the hardest to fulfill. It is easier for us to tell everyone we meet what someone has done to us than it is to talk to the person who hurt us or did us wrong. We are so focused on ourselves that we have difficulty forgiving others for what they did wrong. We will criticize a restaurant for bad service or bad food instead of realizing they are run by people just like you and they make mistakes too. We criticize them because we pay our hard earned money to eat there. Again, focused only on yourself! Jesus taught us to forgive BECAUSE we have been forgiven. (Colossians 3:13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.) We must learn to show people grace. It is what God wants us to do, but it’s not easy to remember in the heat of the moment because of the hurt, disappointment, or aggravation we feel. We are challenged to see the person who is slow checking you out at the grocery store as a person who may be struggling to keep their job instead of delaying you 5 more minutes. We are challenged to see the member of the family who always asks for help as a person with nowhere else to go if you are not there. We are challenged to see that driver that just cut you off or won’t go on as a person in need of God’s love and grace instead of just the person who disrupts your journey. The challenge is real. The struggle to forgive others is real. Extending grace and forgiveness is difficult at times, but it’s what God has done for us and we should do for others. Pastor Don [image: image.png]