DEVOTIONAL: Ephesians 4:32

 "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you."

Sometimes Christianity is hard. God calls us to do difficult things such as forgiving those who have hurt us and to be kind to even those who are unkind to us. It's so much easier to write people off but then we are reminded that God forgives us daily and so if He can do that, who are we to not do the same for others?

We need to allow ourselves some grace.  I don't think we should be hard on ourselves when we find these things difficult to do, it doesn't make us bad people or bad Christians but rather it proves that we are human. I think if we pause and think about it we will find that there are circumstances where we have forgiven and been tenderhearted and kind and so we must trust that we are capable of doing that again. 

It is harder to forgive some people, for example family who have disappointed us, whereas on the flip side, forgiving someone who has forced their way into your lane whilst driving is way easier to do! Being kind to a child comes naturally but to show kindness to someone who has harmed your loved ones is way more challenging.  

In these difficult circumstances we need to hand the matter over to God. We are only human. We need to ask God to come live in our hearts and guide us to the right path of forgiveness. We sometimes need to work on ourselves so we can get to the point where we can bring ourselves to forgive.

Sometimes it helps to think about the matter selfishly - being kind makes us feel good, forgiving frees one from the burden of carrying a grudge/anger, we feel lighter for forgiving. Be kind for you, forgive because its good for your well-being - it may be easier to forgive, be kind and tenderhearted when we see it as being good for ourselves and not make it about the other person. 

If we treat others the way we want to be treated, the world would be a much better place.

Today, let's pray for those who wronged us, ask God to help them see the error in their ways so that they wont hurt others in the same way. Also ask God to come live and work in our own hearts. To make us tenderhearted as this is the factory setting for most of us. Let's ask God to help us to continue to show kindness even when it feels futile and to give us a heart of forgiveness even when it feels hard to do. 

Amen.