WHISPERS FROM HEAVEN
.
Nancy Bauer, Washington
FORGIVENESS: A CHEROKEE
LEGEND
A Cherokee youth came to his Grandfather, telling him of
the injustice that was done to him.
The old
Grandfather said to his grandson,
“Let me tell a
story.”
“I too, at
times, have felt a great hate for those that have taken so much from us, with
no sorrow for what they do. But hate wears you down, and your hate does not
hurt your enemy. It is like TAKING POISON AND WISHING YOUR ENEMY WOULD DIE.”
“I have
struggled with these feelings many times,” he continued. “It is as if there are
two wolves, the WHITE wolf and the BLACK wolf, inside of me.”
“The WHITE wolf
is good and does no harm. He lives in harmony with all around him, and does not
take offense when no offense was intended. He will only fight when it is right
to do so, and in the right way.”
“But the BLACK
wolf, AH! He is full of anger. The littlest thing will set him into a fit of
temper. He fights everyone, all the time, for no reason. He cannot think
because his anger and hate are so great. It is helpless anger, for his anger
will change nothing.”
“Sometimes it is
hard to live with the WHITE wolf and the BLACK wolf inside me, for both of them
try to dominate my spirit.”
The boy looked
intently into his Grandfather’s eyes and asked, “Which one wins, Grandfather?”
The Grandfather
smiled and quietly said,
“THE ONE I FEED!”
We probably all
know someone who is full of anger and un-forgiveness. Someone who lets that
anger dominate their lives….for this is the “wolf” they feed. I myself have fed
the “BLACK wolf” and have let him dominate my spirit. This “BLACK wolf” tried
to eat me alive!
It happened that
I found myself in a child custody battle between grandparents and parent. I
fought on the side of the parent knowing that this was where the child belonged.
The question of
WHY these grandparents would try to take this child from a loving parent truly
angered me.
The anger and un-forgiveness
inside of me was eating me from the inside out. I was becoming a sad, bitter,
hateful woman that fed on anger and resentment. I felt as though I was changing
into someone other than myself and I knew I had to do something to stop the
decay of my spirit.
In my
desperation, and at the end of my rope, I turned to God. (Which is USUALLY the ONLY time we think
about asking God for help…IN OUR DESPERATION!)
I asked: “What
is wrong with me, God? I did what I thought was right and all worked out for
this child. So why am I becoming this terrible person? Please help me!”
“YOU NEED TO
FORGIVE THEM!” I heard God say.
After months of
arguing and trying to use excuses to get out of forgiving them, God won! And there’s no doubt about it, He ALWAYS
wins! No matter what I did by myself, I couldn’t stop feeding that BLACK wolf.
And so, I
FINALLY asked,” How do I forgive them, God?”
Eph 4:31 Get rid
of all bitterness, passion, and anger. No more shouting or insults, no more
hateful feelings of any sort.
Eph 4:32 Instead,
be kind and tender-hearted to one another, and forgive one another, as God has
forgiven you through Christ.
His answers came
to me through His wisdom and this is what I found out:
Forgiving
someone doesn’t mean that I have to approve of the wrong that was done to me
and to those I love.
What forgiveness
means is to:
*Separate the DEED from the PERSON.
*Forgive and love the PERSON.
*FORGET THE DEED
*Lay down the HURT and the DESIRE TO HURT them back.
*AND THINK DIFFERENTLY
In order to feed the “WHITE” wolf, we must
change our thinking! We must THINK of the GOOD in people, LOOK for the GOOD in
people and BE GOOD to them. We must actually pray that God would BLESS them!
That is TRUE forgiveness!
This has to
come from a changed mind, a changed way of thinking that can only come from God
and His Holy Spirit.
For we who
believe in Jesus….
1Co 2:16 ….
We…have the mind of Christ.
In changing our
thoughts, by allowing God to change our way of thinking, we strengthen the WHITE
wolf and weaken the BLACK wolf. By doing
this we starve the BLACK wolf. He diminishes because we don’t feed him the evil
thoughts that he so craves.
We: 2Ti 2:8 Keep
(our) your mind on Jesus Christ!
And we should: 1Co
14:20 … not be like children in (our) thinking, my friends; (we should ) be
children so far as evil is concerned, but be grown up in (our) thinking.
For: Jas
1:20 Human anger does not achieve God's
righteous purpose.
We are to forgive
as Jesus told us to: Mat 18:21 Then
Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, if my brother keeps on sinning
against me, how many times do I have to forgive him? Seven times?"
Mat 18:22
"No, not seven times," answered Jesus, "but seventy times
seven,
How can we
forgive 70X7 times (that’s 490 times!!) if our thoughts aren’t changed?
Not only did
Jesus TELL us how to forgive, but HE SHOWED US. Jesus asked God to forgive
those who nailed His hands to the cross; those who whipped Him so bad that His
open wounds showed His organs; those who tore the beard from His face by the
handfuls. All this and He still said:
Luk 23:34 …
"Forgive them, Father! They don't know what they are doing."
What an example
of forgiveness our Jesus is!
And Paul said: Col
3:13 Be tolerant with one another and
forgive one another whenever any of you has a complaint against someone else.
You must forgive one another just as the Lord has forgiven you.
AND BOY HAS HE
FORGIVEN US!
So, as I thought
of those I chose to forgive, I started to look at the goodness they had in
their hearts, the love for their family and how they cared in their own way.
And as I changed
HOW I looked at them, I fed the “WHITE” wolf. And the more I fed him, the
stronger he grew, until now I look at those I chose to forgive with love, and
pray that they would be blessed.
The decay of
unforgivness and anger, that was eating away at my heart, is gone!
And the
“WHITE” wolf is getting FATTER every day!
The “BIG BAD
BLACK WOLF” is turning into a soft and cuddly puppy, and all thanks to MY
God!!!
Forgiveness: Mat
6:14 “If you forgive others the wrongs they have done to you, your Father in
heaven will also forgive you.
Mat
6:15 But if you do not forgive others,
then your Father will not forgive the wrongs you have done.
Mar 11:25 And when
you stand and pray, forgive anything you may have against anyone, so that your
Father in heaven will forgive the wrongs you have done."
Luk 6:37 "Do
not judge others, and God will not judge you; do not condemn others, and God
will not condemn you; forgive others, and God will forgive you.
Heb 8:12 I will
forgive their sins and will no longer remember their wrongs."
THINKING: 2Co 10:18
For it is when the Lord thinks well of us that we are really approved,
and not when we think well of ourselves
Jas 4:12 God is
the only lawgiver and judge. He alone can save and destroy. Who do you think
you are, to judge someone else?
.Mat 9:4 Jesus
perceived what they were thinking, and so he said, "Why are you thinking
such evil things?
Rom 12:3 And
because of God's gracious gift to me I say to every one of you: Do not think of
yourself more highly than you should. Instead, be modest in your thinking, and
judge yourself according to the amount of faith that God has given you.
Col 2:18…For no reason at all, such people are all puffed
up by their human way of thinking
Col 2:19 and have
stopped holding on to Christ, who is the head of the body.
1Pe 4:1 Since
Christ suffered physically, you too must strengthen yourselves with the same
way of thinking that he had;
2 SAMUEL 6:12-15
(Good News Bib1Co 3:18 You should not
fool yourself. If any of you think that you are wise by this world's standards,
you should become a fool, in order to be really wise.
1Co 10:12 If you
think you are standing firm you had better be careful that you do not fall.
Php 3:19 They are
going to end up in hell, because their god is their bodily desires. They are
proud of what they should be ashamed of, and they think only of things that
belong to this world.
