Humans – A being that was made in the image of God. God, the omnipotent, omnibenevolent and omniscient. God is perfect. One of the values, (apart from love) that we as Christians lack practicing in our daily lives is the art of forgiveness. And among all, family members are exceptionally hard to forgive, especially when we are put on the spot to forgive our parents.
Brothers and sisters, I would urge you to go deep into your heart. Is there something your parents did in the past that you just could not let go? Big or small. You might not notice that it has been lingering in your heart.
Growing up, I always knew that my parents loved me unconditionally, it was something I never doubted. But since I was young, I never felt deeply that they loved me. It was only certain moments. Them loving me unconditionally seemed merely a fact. Something I knew but was not sure of. Maybe this was because of the extremely different love language we share or because of my over sensitivity. I would always think to myself, am I adopted? Little did I know, this slowly pulled me further away from my parents. I seldom called them when I wasn’t home due to competitions/studying in college.
One normal Friday, I went to our college’s CF (Christian fellowship). It was about worship and praying. One of the prayer items was to pray for our parents. The lecturer talked about “The reset card”. Everyone has a reset card and we have the freedom and ability to give it to others. To give it to others, and tell them, Hey, I forgive you. Let’s start again. Our parents have been giving us “The reset card” countless times, but have we ever given our parents our reset card?
Often times we blame our parents for just the smallest things in life. From coming late to pick us up from school to not being able to provide/give us the things we want. Even though after a while, we let it slide as though nothing ever happened. But have we ever said we forgive you? Or maybe they made some big mistakes that we just couldn’t see ourselves forgiving them for. What happens next? A permanent grudge? Resentment? Unbeknownst to us, these feelings slowly build up.
That day God put a mirror in front of me. He showed me the dark side of me. The part I never saw or admitted. The amount of anger and negative thoughts I had towards my parents. That moment, I teared up (like one drop because I told myself to get a hold of it.) I was reminded of Ephesians 4:26 “In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.” That day, I picked up all the courage I had and wrote a letter to my parents and gave them my reset card.
Brother and sisters, I don’t know what each one of you has been through. But remember, through God everything is possible. It is also our parents first time being parents when we were born. No pre-training, and we surely did not come with a manual. So learn to forgive, not hate. Come to God’s altar and give your bag full of hate to Him, and let Him do the rest.
Song recommendation/BGM while you read this: “Oh come to the Altar” – Elevation worship