unforgiveness

Last night's Bible study was on Matthew Chapter 18.  I have said before that some of these presentations are for the heart and some are for the head.  This was a heart one. 

A few tidbits from Matthew 18 to jog your memory.... Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven....Whoever causes one of these little ones who belive in me to sin...if a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray...and if he finds it....he rejoices more over it....if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone...whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven....so will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart.

And so, each of these was touched on.  Becoming "child-like"... dependant on the Father for everything.  Jesus' teachings about conflict resolution (go first to your brother...).  One of the least practiced teachings of Jesus, he said. 

But the bulk of the presentation seemed to touch on binding and loosing.  Forgiving those who have hurt us.  Releasing them...as Jesus came to bring release to the captives.  What He did for us, we are to do for others.  When we hold others bound, we are also binding ourselves.  There is freedom in the releasing.

Father emphasized some points after the video presentation.  Many years ago, he had a brother who was murdered.  He said he knows first hand that there is freedom in forgiveness.  He also made a point that forgiving does not necessarily mean forgetting.  Sometimes there IS remembering, and the thing to do then is to "renew" your forgiveness and move on.  "Go watch a comedy or something." 

I had plans on going to confession this morning - even before I watched the video last night.  Unfortunately those plans didn't work out this morning, but I definitely got another perspective to approach things from.  What resentments and grudges and unforgiveness am I holding on to? 

I can't do the presentation justice in a blog post, but I will say that if you ever have a chance to participate in one of Jeff Cavins' Great Adventure Bible Studies, give it a try!