We are products of our past, but we don't have to be prisoners of it.
Worry is a waste of energy. It cant change the past. It cant control the future. It only makes today miserable
Forgiveness is a gift we give ourselves that allows us to get on with our lives instead of being trapped in the past by resentment.
Resentment always hurts you more than it does the person you resent. While your offender has probably forgotten the offense and gone on with life, you continue to stew in your pain, perpetuating the past. Listen: those who hurt you in the past cannot continue to hurt you now unless you hold on to the pain through resentment. Your past is past! Nothing will change it. You are only hurting yourself with your bitterness. For your own sake, learn from it, and then let it go.
Those who have hurt you in the past cannot continue to hurt you now unless you hold on to the pain through resentment.
Through salvation our past has been forgiven, our present is given meaning, and out future is secured.
Many people are reluctant to show mercy because they don't understand the difference between trust and forgiveness. Forgiveness is letting go of the past. Trust has to do with future behavior.
People need fewer 'ought-to' sermons, and more 'how-to' sermons. The deepest kind of teaching is that which makes a difference in people's day-to-day lives. Jesus spoke to the crowd with an interesting style. When God's Word is taught in an uninteresting way, people don't just think the pastor is boring, they think God is boring!
One of the ways we reflect God's love and bring him glory is to accept each other just as he accepts us. This means we accept others' quirks and look past their faults in order to see a person created in the image of God.
