"Well peace is always still around me cause I keeps me what they call a 'piece of steel'. Long as you got a piece of steel, you gonna have peace. Load your steel. Thank ya Jesus!" - Madea, Diary of A Mad Black Woman
As much as I love Madea because she can make anyone laugh, she doesn't always have the best ideas (lol). This quote was in reference to forgiving others that hurt you. Sometimes life hands you some trials with others, and so many things can happen when someone hurts you. However, the bible talks about forgiveness quite a bit. Romans 12:19-21 says, "Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay,' says the Lord. On the contrary: 'If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.' Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." So the first piece of advice that the bible gives is to let God handle it. God can deal with people far better than any of us can. This scripture is also in reference to your attitude. Sometimes when people hurt us, it is hard to just let it go. In fact, forgiveness can be a process. Forgiveness is a choice, not something you base on emotions. You can't base your forgiveness for someone on how you feel, because if so, you might not ever forgive someone. However, when you do something good for someone who hurts you, it can often lead to having the right feelings. So instead of lashing out at someone who hurts you, treat them with love and compassion. It will not only help the person that hurt you, but it will help you as well. Plus, it is also an effective tool in teaching yourself forgiveness. When you choose not to forgive someone, you are teaching yourself to be hardhearted. When you choose to forgive, you are making it easier to learn how to forgive, and it may come easier to you the next time someone hurts you. If you learn nothing else from it, just remember that when you don't forgive someone, they take power over you. When you do forgive someone, you take back that power. No one should have the power to effect your emotions. Though it happens a lot, you can still take back the power through forgiveness.
Now, forgiveness is not something that we keep a checklist for. If you keep a checklist, have you really forgiven someone? Matthew 18:21-22 says: Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" Jesus answered, "I tell you not seven times, but seventy-seven times." When Jesus said this, he did not mean literally ONLY seventy-seven times. When he said this, he meant for no one to set a limit on how much you can forgive someone. This scripture goes hand in hand with this scripture: 1 Corinthians 13:5, "...it keeps no record of wrongs." Now, "it" refers to love. Love and forgiveness go hand in hand with each other. Without love, how can you forgive someone? So when someone hurts you, forgive them and move on. Don't keep track of how many times a person hurts you, because if you do, can you really call that forgiveness?
If you ever find yourself in a conflict over forgiving someone, pray about it. The heart is deceitful and cannot always be trusted, as talked about in Jeremiah 17:9. So this is where this particular scripture comes in... Mark 4:39 says, "Peace! Be Still!" When you read this particular phrase in the bible, it was referring to Jesus calming the storm when the disciples were out on the water. However, it can be used in the case of your heart. If you find that there is turmoil in your heart over what someone did to hurt you, simply say to your heart, Peace! Be Still! If it can work for calming the wind and waves, surely it can work for calming the storm in your heart.
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