Forgive and Forget.....Right?

I have always had a thing against people who hold grudges.

"Who are YOU to hold a grudge against this person who has barely hurt you at all, while you sit here doing your own thing half the time and when you go to God for forgiveness, HE doesn't hold a grudge against you. So why would you hold a grudge against someone else???"

I just never quite understood it. 

It's kind of like the parable of the rich man and the poor man in the Bible.

Where...

This one rich man owed another great man a large sum of money. When he told this great man that he could not repay him, the important man forgave the debt of the rich man immediately and let him go on his way.

But this same rich man then goes back to his life where a very poor man owes HIM a very small sum of money.

And instead of forgiving the very small debt of the poor man, the rich man threw him in prison because he couldn't repay the debt!

How could he!! Right!?

I mean he just got a huge debt that HE owed forgiven, but then HE can't even forgive this small debt this poor man owes him.

It just does not make any sense.

But that is EXACTLY how we are.

We are that rich man. And the great man is Jesus.

And we sin OVER AND OVER AND OVER again, and yet every time we come to Jesus and tell Him that we can NOT repay the debt we owe Him, He forgives us anyway. 

IMMEDIATELY He forgives us.

Time and time again.

And then when a friend of ours (the poor man in the parable) comes to us and does us wrong in some way or can't repay us for something they have done, then we just sit here, unwilling to forgive the debt. 

Unwilling to just let it go.

And we punish this person.

By either holding this grudge against them (or I guess we would throw them in prison like in the old days lol).

And it just doesn't make any sense!!

Who are WE to not forgive and forget when Jesus forgives and forgets CONSTANTLY.

ALL THE TIME.

EVERY DAY.

Because if He didn't, we would all be dead men right now.

Because we can't repay that debt.

We can NEVER repay that debt.

He had to pay it for us.

It's funny though.

As much as I have a thing against people who hold grudges,

somehow, the more I am hurt by people and the more I get angry over little things,

the more I find MYSELF holding grudges.

The more I find MYSELF unwilling to just

Forgive.

and 

Forget.

So I know it is hard.

And often times it is just a pride issue.

God forgive me for that one as well.

But just as Jesus said to love your neighbor as yourself,

so should you do this.

And by doing this, you will find that holding grudges just seems kind of silly.

Jesus forgives and forgets immediately.

Why can't we?

Forever His,

Rachel