Forbear

It’s easy to become cross with someone else.  At least it is for me.  So I have to work on this forgiveness thing.  It’s not that I am a mean person, it’s just that I have a great memory for when I have been wronged.  I just can’t seem to forget transgressions.  Well … that’s not entirely true.  It seems that I remember distinctly someone else’s transgressions, but it is much easier for me to forget MY transgressions.  So I go back to my opening statement: I need to work on this forgiveness thing.  And Pastor Jamie brought up the word “forbear” last Sunday in his message.  Paul said in Colossians 3:13, “Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.”  Forbear means to be able to forget when you have been wronged.  It simply means to put up with someone.  And that’s what I need to do.  Instead of remembering every little transgression, I need to be a little more forgetful.  And the end of the verse has the key.  Jesus forgave me MY transgressions, so I should be quicker to forgive others of their transgressions.  Since Jesus forgave, I should forgive.  And, by God’s grace, that’s what I am doing.  Or at least that’s what I am working on …