Ruminating over Wrongs

     I was reading in the back of the June 2014 issue of Our Daily Bread, "Our Model of Forgiveness," from the book, Forgiveness by Gary Inrig. He brought up many of the issues people have about forgiveness and whether others deserve to be forgiven. He noted the following, "Forgiveness is powerful. It can break the the chains of the past, turn apparent defeat into genuine victory, and open the door to God's transforming power. That is true of both the vertical forgiveness we receive from our gracious God and the horizontal forgiveness we extend to others in His name." This quote gave me the picture below. Jesus Christ said I am forgiven (vertically) due to His shed blood on the cross, so that in my life I can freely forgive (horizontally) others.
     The author also wrote some great questions, here are some to think about below:
*Are you willing to trade in your sense of righteousness and self-dependence for God's forgiveness that comes through faith in Jesus Christ?
*Are you willing to trade your resentment over the wrongs done to you for the freedom of forgiveness? This will mean putting into God's hands the judgment of those who have wronged you and then resigning any right to be involved in the process.
*Are you willing to embrace the future rather than clinging to the past, ruminating over the wrongs that have been done?

Colossians 3:13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.