Forgiving QUICKLY and THOROUGHLY

Epheser 4:32

Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you. (The Message)

I like the message translation of this verse. On my bible app on my MacBook I have more than 30 different bible translations installed. It cost some money over the years, but thats alright, whatever seed you plant into your spiritual life you will reap a harvest. 
I love to read different translations in order to get a fuller meaning of the content that the original author was trying to convey by the Holy Spirit. 

Recently as I read Ephesians, this verse jumped out to me and I got a revelation. Read it again:

Epheser 4:32
Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as QUICKLY and THOROUGHLY as God in Christ forgave you. 

I believe that one of the reasons that so many people struggle with forgiving others is because they take too much time to do so. We need to forgive QUICKLY and THOROUGHLY, in order to walk in freedom. This can become a spiritual discipline that becomes habitual, just as praying or reading your bible. 

Love never holds anybody’s past mistakes against them, period. It doesn’t bring things up that have been repented of and that God forgave. 

We need to train our minds to be renewed, I think we can literally „forget“ things that have been done to us. What helps me with that is attaching pictures to scriptures, I’ve practiced this many many times.

Next time when you have an opportunity to be offended, imagine a deep ocean (see the pic) and remind yourself that your own sins are not there anymore in the eyes of God, they are somewhere deep down there and they will stay there, that is if you have accepted Jesus and follow Him. This helps us to take ownership and realize quickly, that us not forgiving would be a much greater problem, than what anybody does to us. Visualize it and play the movie in your mind. You will quickly realize that its not worth it to hold grudges against anyone. Your mind is renewed, and you don’t go there, because you know the truth - and the truth has set you free. Simple, and it works!

 

Philipp J. Schmerold