Day Five  -  Dealing with a Difficult Person 

Colossians 3:13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.

                  All of us have a difficult time with certain people.  A heard a man ask the question,  “What kind of church would my church be if every member were just like me?”   We think that it would be great because we like who we are,  but as difficult as some people are to get along with,  we have an even harder time dealing with our own sin.  We are the ones with the beam.  The others have the mote.  Perhaps someone has sinned against you and hurt you so deeply that you have a hard time forgiving them.  Before you write them off remember,  “no one has sinned against you as much as you have sinned against God!” 

Ephesians 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

How has God forgiven you?  Was it because you were so good,  because you deserved it?  Did He forgive you because He loves you when you were a sinner?  The Bible instructs us to forgive one another “as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven us.”  

Perhaps someone has stolen your inheritance,  or robbed you of a relationship that you needed.  Perhaps it was a parent or a child,  the Bible is clear that we are different from the world. The world has no capacity to forgive.  They are given to grudges and bitterness.  But we are different.  We are called to do the things that the world can’t do.  We are called to show to the world that we forgive those who have sinned against us.  It is by our love that the world sees that we are different and that we have a power that they do not have. 

John 13:35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

Imagine what it would be like if God actually answered our prayer, 

“Our Father, which art in heaven,  hallowed be thy name,  thy kingdom come,  they will be done on earth as it is in heaven,  Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses  (sins) as we forgive those who have trespassed  (sinned) against us…” 

We have prayed that prayer our entire lives and have asked God to forgive us the way we have forgiven others.  If God were to answer that prayer,  would you be forgiven?  

An Exercise to increase our faith   -  Send a note to someone who you have had a hard time forgiving.  Tell them that you are praying for them and that you are thankful that God put them into your life.