MAX ON LIFE

41. I was sexually abused as a child, and I've honestly tried to forgive this person. But I continue to suffer the effects of the abuse, both mentally and physically, so the pain and anguish keep me on a crazy cycle. One day I feel that I can forgive, and the next I feel I can't.

Your pain is real. No greeting-card homily is going to solve all your problems. But stay with me a moment as I suggest a perspective shift.

Hurt people hurt people. The person refused to forgive his abuser and decided to take out his aggressions on you.

Forgiveness breaks the chain of abuse. Forgiveness resolves the past and protects the future.

Without it you are doomed to pass on abuse. Not necessarily sexually but through anger or a lack of commitment in relationships. Somewhere, sometime, with some unwitting victim, hurt pops unexpectedly out of the box and destroys another party.

Jesus forgave people in the past, present, and future. Imagine forgiving hurt that hasn't even happened to you yet. You don't have a reason to hate someone, but you forgive before he gives you one. A person doesn't repent for something he hasn't yet done, but Jesus has already forgiven him.

Before you get caught in the crazy cycle of hurt and forgivelessness, try shifting your glance away from the one who hurt you and setting your eyes on the One who has saved you.

We all need forgiveness. Especially the person who hurt you.

By: Max Lucado