Peter asked the Lord, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus responded by saying we are to forgive “seventy times seven”. (Matthrew 18: 21-22)
What does this mean?
Jesus says we should forgive four hundred and ninety
times. That sure is a lot. I’m thinking, really God – I should forgive a
person that many times? The answer is no,
not quite. While Jesus’ response was seventy times seven, his answer was used
as a way to tell Peter to go above and beyond with forgiveness with no
limitations. We should forgive no matter the amount of the weight of the wrong. We should just forgive. In Ephesians 4:32,
Paul tells us that we should forgive one another, “just as God has forgiven us.”
Yesterday morning I came to work and was surprised at how
many emails I had in my inbox from the weekend.
As I started to scheme through, there in bright blue letters was the
punch in the gut “CareerBuilder Job Application: HR Generalist”. Excuse me??
So most of you are wondering, “Why would this upset you?” Well, I am starting a new job next
Monday. A big reason for my departure
was lack of advancement within my current company. My boss had been throwing these “promises” to
me saying that as soon as the company grew then she would be able to move me
into a higher position. Ding, ding,
ding, ding – you guessed it, the HR Generalist position. Waiting and waiting for that opportunity had
my endurance run dry, along with some issues on the lack of direction/guidance
my boss had given me. This past year I
finally made my concerns arise, and again I was promised the same story. There wasn’t enough in the budget she
said. We’re not growing right now, but
as soon as we do, we will put you in that position she said. This year we have lost 19 properties…………..but
now that I am leaving somehow the budget expanded and even though we were
getting smaller, the opportunity was there.
I’ve given this company six years of dedication. I took iniative. I came to work on time every day. I went above and beyond what was expected,
but yet here I was staring at the computer feeling as if I had just been given
a punch in the stomach.
I’ll tell you this much, I wasn’t that surprised, in fact I
was expecting this. I had already put
two and two together and figured that my boss would pull a slimeball move like this. I paused for a moment and felt the anger
creeping in along with the feelings of hurt.
I ended up concluding that while this hurt, the decision to leave was
confirmed for me. I was thrilled to no longer work for someone who lacked
certain character and moral qualities.
The funny thing was that I wasn’t supposed to know. Someone accidentally forgot to update the
receiving person’s email and in doing so left my email address which is why my
box was now inudated with resumes. It’s
hard to stay calm in a situation like this.
It’s hard not to feel betrayed. I
couldn’t understand.
Stay calm, cool and collected was repeated over and over in
my head. Dear Lord, help me. Help me get through this. What does the Lord tell us during times of
unfairness? What does he say when
someone does us wrong? Forgive.
Let it go. I will fight your
battle, I will right your wrongs. I
just told my friend this morning, “Ugh, why does Jesus gotta be so nice?” It’s hard to act like Him, when we’ve been
wronged. All I wanted to do is be mad,
but that’s not the answer.
I don’t know why God is having me go through this. All I can conclude is that by prayer and
petition, He opened door and he saved me from years of unhappiness at this
job. While it hurt to see the true
colors of my superior, it helped me rest assured that I made the right decision
to leave. I’ve had to readjust my
thinking to the positive and stray from the negative. You see instead of focusing on the excitement
of my new job, I began to dwell on the wrongs that had been done to me at my
job. “No, no, no”, God said. Let that go and let me help you get through
the day.” I’ve been having a hard time
though. Some moments I feel completely
at peace, while others I find myself sulking on feelings of hurt and
anger. Being a Christian woman is not
easy. My flesh says “get even” while my
spirtual heart says “forgive and let it go”.
It’s been a battle, believe me.
Even now, I’m still working on staying in my positive lane. Sometimes it is easy to forgive and forget,
but other times, it is a process and so far it has been that way for me.
Romans 8:28 is one of my favorite verses, “And we know that all things work for good for those that believe….” Stay focused on God’s word. Remember He will right your wrongs. Things may seem unfair now, but God has the last word. Do right no matter what.
Yesterday on my way home, God placed the perfect song to come on. If you are facing any hardship through an unfair circumstance I hope this song provides you with some peace.
Oh, Father, give me grace to forgive them 'Cause I feel like the one losin'
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