Forgive Them? Just Forget It!

Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Colossians 3:13 NIV

We've all seen them. The campaign ads telling us the mistakes of someones past and why we shouldn't vote for them.

We've heard it on the news. So and so said such and such. It doesn't matter if it was forty years ago the point is he/she said it! We can't trust him/her.

Today I heard about someone losing her job over a poor judgement for a costume choice. I mean really, why can't she just apologize and admit she made a mistake?

Is our world so consumed by the wrong choices we make that we can't get past them? We all have made mistakes at one time or another. A mistake in what we may have said or not said, in the action we choose to perform, or in joining the wrong group of friends. Mistakes are made because we have freedom to choose.

"All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23 NIV. It's pretty simple, each of us make mistakes. Some of us choose to be forgiven by God for these mistakes with the promise that He will remember our sin no more. It'd be nice if the world could remember or sin no more.

Hopefully, we learn from our bad choice and move on. Sure sometimes there are consequences for the choice we made(like the lady losing her job), but once the punishment is done we should have the freedom to move forward not have it shoved in our face or publicized on the news.

One of the things I have been teaching the children is to seek forgiveness when they've done wrong. We talk about what they did and then how can they make it right. The first thing we've learned is to go to God first and then the person we wronged. That person is suppose to say, "OK, I forgive you." Then he/she is not to bring it up again, especially when the other kid's parents arrive.

Yesterday, one of the kids was sitting on the bench to think about what he did. When I talked to him about it, he knew what he did and without me even telling him, he prayed, "I'm sorry God for being mean please help me do better." Now that's a lesson learned.