Defining attitudes and acts of forgiveness

Uv 436/10,000 Defining our attitudes and actions towards our enemies Mat 5:45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust The preceding verse speaks about four categories of adversaries: those who curse us, those who hate us, those who despitefully use us and those who persecute us. They too, being potentially children of our Father in Heaven, need us to pray for their redemption from the one enemy of mankind who prompts them to do these things. Faith is about the conversion of the potential into the real. Just as the Son of God rises on us daily with healing in His wings, we need to pray for these lost brothers and sisters that He would shine His light in their lives, too to open their eyes to the evil inhabiting their minds and causing them to act unjustly towards His own. We should not pray for their destruction but pray for the healing of their souls. Don’t destroy the enemy, destroy the enemity. Their enemity for us is destroying them without their knowing from within. We must pray for healing compassion upon them and for the rain of blessings upon them. When we pray in this manner, we please the Lord in that we are truly His children just as Jesus forgave those who abused Him, spat on Him, wrongly accused Him, tortured Him,ignored Him, betrayed Him, mocked Him, impaled Him, did injustice to Him and murdered Him. His act of pleading with the Father to forgive them is the greatest act of forgiveness in the history of the world and indeed, all of eternity that draws all mankind to Him in all generations. He knew they would not do these things if their eyes were opened to the truth that He personified. He knew they would not do these things if they had complete knowledge of who He really is and what He stands for. Though none of us have suffered in the same measure as Jesus did, we need to foster the same attitudes that Jesus had for the four categories of adversaries. Such forgiveness is the essence of being a child of God. It also heals us of inner bitterness, hurts, grudges, resentment and such useless baggage of the past that could cramp our lifestyle and steal us of our potential. Prateep V Philip