"Getting Even"

I read today's message in Our Daily Bread was about "Getting Even".

Teaching us to forgive others, not getting even. Just like what Paul wrote, " Let all bitterness, wrath, anger.... be put away from you, with all malice..."

"Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you." - Ephesians 4:32

A very good verse eh? :) Reminds me somehow that i'm not perfect, i make mistakes, and same goes for others as well. who am i to judge people and not to forgive them when i need forgiveness as well?

Dr. Lewis Smedes, a professor of theology, wrote extensively about the forgiveness in Forgive and Forget, saying : "Revenge never evens the score, for alienated people never keep score of wrongs by the same mathematics. Forgiveness is the only way to stop the cycle of unfair pain turning in your memory."

I actually remembered not only myself but my Mom as well. My Dad left us for another woman, and eventually they had a daughter who is 1 year older than my brother only. So that means, he has been having their affair long way before my brother was born. I felt betrayed, who wouldn't? but i can say that He hurt my Mom the most. Till now, my Mom still hate him. yea, that's the word, "HATE". I had once spoken about forgiving my Dad with my Mom, and she said NO. I agree with today's message about forgiving. Not only forgiving for that person's sake, but for my own sake as well.

Smedes said that forgiveness is not forgetting, excusing, or smoothing things over. Instead, forgiving breaks the cycle of revenge and "creates a new possibility of fairness by releasing us from the unfair past. Forgiving is love's toughest workd and love's biggest risk. (i love this line!!) To forgive is to dance to the beat of God's forgiving heart. It is to ride the crest of love's strongest wave. To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you."

Don't you just agree with that? :) bcoz i tell you, i totally do agree with him.
Why make urself suffer more? Ask God's help for only Him shall set you free. (Especially you, Mom. i just want you to be happy, God wants you to be happy too!) Amen!

"Revenge imprisons us;
forgiveness sets us free."