Forgiveness is the way to go

I attended service earlier on and today's yesterday's preaching was on forgiveness. Mike Connell came down to City Harvest and gave a little-difficult-to-understand preaching on this topic. "Forgiveness" has always been the key to a peaceful life because without forgiving, we will never have a peaceful heart. And without a peaceful heart, we can never take in or give out. But still, today's service was wonderful, in a way, because it actually coincides with my thinking last night. And I must say God gave me answers I needed today.

Till this day, I've seen people bearing hatred for one another after so many years of a particular incident. It seems pretty funny.

We might hate because we are...

Sad.

How many of us have been hurt by people whom we trust and love the most? We've been giving them chances and chances again but all they give us are empty promises. Our love slowly changes to hatred because our hearts just can't bear anymore. The sadness has been so pain that it practically ruined our lives and it seems like there is no turning back.

Angry.

How many of us have been so frustrated with people around us that we feel like killing them? Sometimes we are so angry with them to the extent of wishing that they have never existed in our lives. The mistakes they did seem so unforgivable to us and the gap between both parties will always remain this big.

Betrayed.

Tsk tsk. How many of us have been betrayed before? I must say this is one of the suckiest feelings we can ever feel. Betrayal is like a gun at the back of our heads, ready to fire to burst our brains. Honestly, I personally feel that betrayal is usually the factor which leads to hatred.

And of course, people can also hate with no reasons. I've seen people being so judgmental and bearing hatred for other people because of their impressions of others. Some impressions are definitely not true but no one is there to prove them otherwise.

I've bear hatred for many people in the past. I've bear hatred for two loves of my life. One of them turned out to be something I least expected. The other one turned out to be something much more than what I had expected. Bearing grudges for someone is already tough enough. Bearing grudges for two people is really tiring. Because of my hatred for others, I created a wall around my heart and in turn, hating every other men out there. Oh yes, both are men.

However, a year ago, I stopped hating them. I thought of my past and there are actually wonderful memories with them. Keeping the ugliest memories will only hurt me more and bearing grudges for them will only damage me more. Forgiving is never easy. I took many days, weeks, months and years to take away my hatred. But after taking away my hatred, it seems like a burden has been taken off my shoulders. Life has been good so far.

So here I am, praying for those who hate me for whatever reasons. I pray that you will soon take away the walls around your heart and live a carefree life. I pray for those I've hated before, to live a much more happier life than how they used to live. After all...

True story.