Did you know that the circumstances in your life can actually make you a
better person? Whether those situations are good or bad, you can choose to
allow your circumstances to make you better or bitter-it's your choice to
make.
It's always been amazing to me how one person can experience something
tragic and it makes them a stronger, better person, while someone else might
have something more minor happen in their life and it seems that they never
get over it. I like the saying, "Life breaks all of us, but some people are
made strong at the broken places; others just stay broken." We have to
realize that we are responsible for choosing how we respond.
There's a great example of choosing forgiveness over bitterness in Numbers
12. In this scripture, Moses' brother and sister came against him. Verses 1
and 2 say, Now Miriam and Aaron talked against Moses [their brother] because
of his Cushite wife.and they said, Has the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses?
Has He not spoken also by us?. (The Amplified Bible).
In this instance, Miriam and Aaron were being critical of Moses because they
were jealous and wanted his position. Jealousy is the root of bitterness and
it prevents people from seeing the greatness of God in their own lives.
It's common for people to act this way when they aren't satisfied with who
they are and where they are in life, which makes them judgmental, critical
and even angry about what God is doing for someone else. We need to know who
we are in Christ and trust that God has a plan for each of us. We have to
stop wanting what we don't have and thank God for what we do have.
Verses 9 through 12 say that God was angry with their sin, and Miriam became
leprous. So how did Moses react? In verse 13 he prayed for Miriam to be
healed! He chose forgiveness.
I was abused throughout my childhood and had every reason to feel sorry for
myself. As a result, I spent years in self-pity, and it never did me any
good. I finally realized that staying angry was not going to change my
situation, and I had to stop feeling sorry for myself. I decided to forgive.
Everyone has opportunities every day to either forgive or become offended or
aggravated, jealous or angry. It can be easy to overlook the little things
that create resentment or aggravation, which causes them to build up inside
us. It seems that most divorces happen because of all the little things that
build up over the years and aren't dealt with. In the end, people don't even
really know why they can't stay together.
In order to forgive - really forgive - you must be committed to walk in
love. If you really want to walk in love, you're going to have to learn to
die to yourself, give some things away that you'd probably rather keep, put
up with some people you'd probably rather get away from, and get really good
at forgiving others.
If you're a person who is unhappy most of the time or if you struggle with
self-pity, it's time to stop blaming others and allowing the circumstances
of your life to make you a bitter, jealous, offended person. And it's time
to stop wanting what someone else has. Understand that God is much more
interested in doing something IN you than FOR you, because if He can't do
anything IN you, He can't work THROUGH you. It's His will to work through
you.
Make the decision to walk in love and learn to forgive. You can allow the
difficult situations of life to make you a better person. You can rise above
them and choose to walk in love and forgiveness. God has a plan for you-a
wonderful plan. And although He may not do for you what He's done for
someone else, He will do something wonderful for you.
For more on this topic, you may order Joyce's four-CD series "Do Yourself a
Favor.Forgive" by visiting www.joycemeyer.org.
Useful link: www.joycemeyer.org
No comments:
Post a Comment