I have been thinking a lot about forgiveness lately. The Bible clearly tells us that we must forgive as God has forgiven us.
(Mark 11:25; 1 John 1:9; Ephesians 4:32; Matthew 6:12; Matthew 6:14-15; Matthew 18: 21-22; Luke 6:37; Colossians 3:13; Luke 17:3-4)
This seems like an impossible thing to ask of us, but;
“Forgiveness is a choice, not a feeling.”
I have repeated that statement to many people over the last 15 years, who have said “I try to forgive but I just don’t feel …”
The problem then comes when we choose to not forgive.
Some things are just hard. Sometimes a person has hurt us in ways that the world says “They don’t deserve forgiveness for that; or; Nobody should have to forgive that.”
But God...
God’s economy is so much different from the worlds. I’ve often heard it called ‘the upside-down kingdom’. He calls us to love when the world says hate. Give when the world says take. Pursue peace when the world sounds a war cry. And forgive when the world screams for justice, revenge, and retribution.
What is the hardest thing you ever had to forgive?
Don’t worry if you’re still angry, hurt, broken, uncomfortable, or distrusting; because forgiveness is not a feeling, but a choice.
This is the overarching spiritual concept that Angelica will be struggling with in Lost’s sequel “Alone in the Land of the Midnight Sun“.
How will she learn to move forward, and forgive what her father did to her mother?
If she can’t forgive, what consequences are in store that will affect her, the world around her, and those she comes in contact with.
Most importantly how will it affect her relationship with the Lord? And how much does her destiny depend on her maintaining that relationship?
Deep in the Alaskan winter, on the stark frozen tundra, Angelica is, as we speak, coming to terms with these questions.
Even if it is only on a page in my laptop, the answers have real world applications for us all.
Update!
Book two, Alone in the Land of the Sun, is written, edited, formatted and published as of May 18, 2022.