Bible reading: Matthew 6:9 – 15
Step 3: We made a decision to turn our lives and our wills
over to the care of God.
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to
offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your
spiritual act of worship.” (Romans 12:1)
Principle 3: Consciously choose to commit all of my life and
will to Christ care and control.
“Happy are the meek.” (Matthew 5:8)
We can sometimes get so focused on ourselves during recovery
that we don’t spend much time dealing with the way others have sinned against
us. Or maybe were totally focused on the way we’ve been mistreated, as an
excuse for our behavior. This leaves us with emotional baggage that will hinder
our progress. Forgiving others is an important key to turning our will over to
God.
James taught his disciples, “Pray along these lines: ‘Our
Father in heaven, we honor Your holy name. We ask that Your kingdom will come
now. May Your will be done here on earth, just as it is in heaven. Give us our
food again today, as usual, and forgive us our sins, just as we have forgiven
those who have sinned against us. Don’t bring us into temptation, but deliver
us from the evil one. Amen.’ Your heavenly Father will forgive you if you
forgive those who sin against you; but if you refuse to forgive them, He will
not forgive you’” (Matthew 6:9 – 15).
Forgiveness is a choice of our will. Just as our forgiveness
was not based on excusing the wrongs we’ve done, neither does our forgiveness
of others call for us to excuse what they’ve done. We must 1st
convicted offender in our minds, then turned the matter of vengeance over to
God. This helps his face the truth about our own pain. It also frees us from
any excuse to continue our compulsive behavior because of what’s been done to
us.
Forgiveness begins as a choice but becomes a process that
opens us up to God’s love and forgiveness.
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