Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times. Matt 18:22 How appropriate for 9/11.
Like most of you I remember where I was that fateful day 10 years ago. I was doing daycare in our home in MN. One of the mom’s came and said turn on the TV. I couldn’t believe what was happening. How could this be? When horrible things like this happen, it is hard to forgive. However, to be healthy and obedient to God, you need to.
Unforgiveness has a long list of unpleasant side effects like cancer, heart disease, arthritis, diabetes, etc. Actually the stress caused by it, may be the underlying cause for most degenerative diseases.
Is 9/11 any worse than Jesus being beaten, crowned with thorns, and crucified on a cross? And His comment was, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do!” How do you get to that point?
Perhaps a little understanding about the people who did this will help. My husband spent some time in the Middle East while he was in the Air Force. He keeps saying that we just don’t understand their belief system, it isn’t the same as our Christian beliefs. One thing they do is go into poor areas where there aren’t any schools and build schools. Sounds good except, they take the poor boys at a very young age, teach them hate, and tell them if they die fighting for the cause, they will spend eternity with their god. If that is the only thing you know, what would you do?
Does that mean your just a doormat for those who hurt you? No. If you are in an abusive relationship, you have the right to get yourself to safety. If coworkers or others say bad things about you, you can try to get another job or in a different department. If that isn’t possible, praying can make it possible so you don’t get hurt by their remarks.
My Mom knew a very holy priest. Sometimes people would get very angry at him, swearing, calling him names, and yelling at him. She asked him how he dealt with that. He said he doesn’t even hear or remember it. God protects him from it altogether. We tend to get all righteous and can only think about how people should treat us. Why should you as a follower of Jesus be treated any better than He was?
Some people say the 9/11 attackers were trying to get our attention, but I think God was trying to get our attention. Our country has been on a downhill slide since probably the 50′s. Wars, sexual revolution, abortion, homosexuality, loss of the sanctity of marriage, greed, consumerism, pride, all against God’s plan for us.
If we want love, joy, and peace, we need to be living in agreement with God’s laws of nature. The two main ones being Love God and love your neighbor as yourself. How many of you have peace in your families? How can we have world peace when most of us don’t even have family peace?
So let’s pray for peace within our self, others, and then the world. Pray for the desire and ability to truly forgive those who hurt us in small and big ways. And a little Young Living Forgiveness Essential Oil while you pray maybe helpful as well!
Colleen Kelly whose brother was killed in the towers shares a lesson she learned from a rabbi named Irwin Kula in an essay she wrote:
The rabbi was struck by reading the news reports of the last words and wishes of the victims of the 9/11 attacks who were able to phone home and who knew they were soon to die. He noticed that the sentiments expressed were unfailingly about love. No one’s last words implored getting back at the terrorists, or exacting revenge. Each person at the door of death had only messages of love. “I love you,” Rabbi Kula read in transcripts, over and over. “Tell the kids I love them.” The most urgent reality, the only thing that mattered, was love. “There’s a time for righteous moral outrage, just as there’s a time for accountability, and justice,” Kelly writes. “But in the end, it’s about love.”
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Great thoughts, Mary!