How do I forgive the impossible?

Mary Claire: Right, welcome. It's Mary Claire and Hilary. We are finally starting this conversation. I swear, like I don't For some reason I think Sane does not want us to have this episode because it's been one thing after another. Yeah. I think we've tried to record this like four different times in the past several weeks. And even just now, like one of our microphones stopped working. So we're recording from one microphone. I have a child homesick from school in the bedroom. So we had to call in all the favors. Yeah, literally. Yeah. So I hope that means it's going to be a good conversation and that's Someone needs to hear it who Satan didn't want you to hear it, but here you are anyway. So thanks for joining us. I hope that this conversation will encourage you to know that God sees you and He loves you. He's crazy about you. He is. I will say just a fair warning, this is a pretty tough question that we're talking about this week, and it came to us in a roundabout way, but basically the question is how do Christians recognize? reconcile someone like Paul who wrote several books in the New Testament, you know, a huge like model for us in the Christian faith. But his past when he was Saul, I mean he was persecuting Christians, And killing Yeah, I was gonna say literally responsible for for murder. Yeah. And that's That's a pretty clear, sin against God. But also, well, he had the government's approval at the time. Yeah. Because they were scared of the way too. But I mean that it's not okay to murder. And it's hard to get behind a conversation where you say, okay, now this murder then led the spread of Christianity around the world. So how do we how do we reconcile that? Yeah. And I think it's easy for us who are like two thousand years removed from that because we know the end of the story. And you're right. But like today, let's say someone committed a serious crime and then they walk into church and, want to be a leader of some sort, So how do we reconcile that? Gosh. You know what? I'm gonna come back to my thought that I just had, but first we have to set the tone that we cannot hold unbelievers to s the standard that we hold sent followers of Christ. Yeah. And when we say standard, that does not mean consequences. Because we're going to talk about consequences in a minute. I'll start by sharing this quote I saw from a pastor Jonathan or JP Pakluta that he shared recently. And he said, it is a terrible evangelism strategy to hate those who have yet to accept Jesus. So in that time where we have not yet found Jesus, Where we have not been transformed by the gospel. There are some people who get wrapped in ways that are just not only not God glorifying, but criminal. I think of a beautiful testimony that I just heard my friend Crystal give, and she talked about. being arrested for different things. She talked about all this stuff, but now she's proclaiming the goodness of God because he walked her through that. He walked her out of that. So before she was a believer, she did she said, I didn't I didn't know what God thought about abortion or what God thought about drugs or you know, it never crossed our mind. So we can't hold believers, unbelievers, people who God has not rescued or saved yet. We can't say, okay, well we expect you to act like we think we should act. Right. And someone might be listening to this thinking like, okay, well, I'm not a believer or I know someone who's not a believer and they have a great moral compass, you know. we know plenty of people who are not walking with the Lord who have a good sense of right and wrong. Mm-hmm. But my youth and I did this apologetic study I don't know, sometime in the last year. And one of the leading arguments is that if there's no God, where does morality come from? Because yes, you might have a good sense of right and wrong, but then if you keep digging like what makes something right, what makes something wrong? And it's not just, the law, because laws are different in different places, like if you keep getting down to the root of it who establishes right and wrong what establishes right and wrong so I just wanted to throw that out there for that right because if you're an unbeliever but you're living an upright life without God that We're not saying all unbelievers are are out there being criminals. Right. I see what you're saying. We're we're making that no. We want you to know God because He loves you so much and He wants to give you an abundant life. So if you're an unbeliever and you're listening right now, hey, yeah He's waiting. That's right. We're glad you're here. Yeah. So let's talk about consequences because we also want to make it clear that we're not saying like, okay, we're both in youth ministry. If someone comes in and they you know we're we're gonna gonna do a background check and if you are a freshly convicted felon like we love you but please don't come voluntary with my youth ministry right well this is what I told Mike there they there's a need f God still has a call on your life if you're a convicted felon. It just we have to put you in safe places right for you to live out that calling. Right. Until there's fruit, which is a later part of this conversation. But but maybe that's forever. Yeah. Do you wanna make a point to that a quote that we talked about that as believers, as people who are walking with Jesus, we are free of sin. Yeah. We are free to choose, but we are not free of the consequences of our sin. Right. So sometimes that's just a hurt feeling. Right. And we're we're we're need to be accoun accountable for that consequence. We have hurt somebody's feeling and we need to apologize. Well, I was gonna say, like we're talking a lot specifically about criminals. activity just because that was the root of the question. And obviously, I mean I'm not anywhere even close to perfect, but I am walking with Jesus now and I am more cognizant of certain things that I was like before I really knew him. So I just want to throw that out there. I mean like before I was really walking with God, I was probably a lot more quick to like talk about someone in a mean way. You know, and I might have had to deal with those consequences of that. Right. Right. So w so we're not free from the consequences of our actions, which sometimes and in in Paul's case could have very well been legal action. And in you know, my the case of my friend Crystal, it was legal action taken against her. But she served her time. Right. She did she went through the legal channels and then she was sa sh she was saved through that whole process and then God called her out and has used her in mighty ways to proclaim his name. she's a nurse. So Yeah, and I remember something else we said that maybe we wanted to point out is that there's a difference in believing in Jesus and walking with Jesus. Because I heard this recently about being in the South, we probably have a lot of believers in Jesus compared to like other regions, but as far as people who are actually walking with Jesus, you said the words cultural Christianity. Yeah. Yeah. Because when you're in a place where everybody goes to church or it's common to say, I'm praying for you. it becomes part of your vocabulary and part of your lifestyle, but not necessarily part of your spirit to to walk with Jesus. And a and a disciple walks closely with someone. So that's not just attending church or saying I'll pray for you, but actually reading his word and talking to him and spending time with the Father. And hey, I don't list any of those to say if you're not doing that, you're a bad Christian. Right. I list that just to say when you're serious about following Jesus, there's a desire to know him more. Yeah. And that's all it comes down to is just wanting to know him. Well and we're talking about a couple of examples from the Bible and both of these examples believed in God, right? Yes. But they were not closely walking with him until later. But the great news is that both of these examples once they did become closer to God and like he still uses them despite I love that you brought Moses up during this because he committed murder. Yeah. He murdered the Egyptian, and he thought it was in in in the name of that something good. Yeah. Because he was being mean to his Jewish family. Not not literal, but one of the Israelites that were enslaved in Egypt. And so He saw it and he couldn't control his anger and he killed him. But then other Israelites was it other Israelites that said, Are you gonna kill us too? Or Yes. I think so. Because if the Egyptians knew then he would have been in trouble before. So anyway, the other Israelites were other people knew that he had done this. and so then he he had consequences. Do you want to talk about some of those consequences that he had? Moses killed the Egyptian, he lived as a foreigner in Midian for forty years before God came to him in the burning bush. yeah. So he had forty years of exile basically. Yeah. He the Israelites well the people found out that he had killed this Egyptian. Mm-hmm. And he was like, no, I'm in big trouble and he ran. Mm-hmm. And he was gone for forty years. Like he started living life. Yeah. Which it is. Away from people. Like that seemed crazy to me. Like we know the story about him being the baby like in the river in the basket and then we know about like the burning bush but I I guess it just never really hit me until I read that recently that there was this whole 40 year gap where But then God is so good. He knows his history. Right. He knows what and yet he was the person that God had chosen for this because he was a Jew, an Israelite shouldn't say G say Israelite that was r raised in an Egyptian household. He was saved at birth, like you said, the baby in the basket. Right. He grew up learning the ways of the Pharaoh, but having a soft heart towards the Israelites because those were his people. Which led him to murder the Egyptian. But God let him try to figure it out on his own for forty years. Yeah. But he couldn't bring him back until he had had some kind of reconciliation. And his reconciliation, I really feel like came in the form of the burn and bush. It was an experience with the one true God. Right. And I love too, I might have said this before, but Annie F. Downs has this devotional where she talks about the burning bush and she points out the way that it's worded in Exodus is that Moses had to notice the burning bush. Like he doesn't automatically give it his attention. And so he does make that choice to give God his attention. And I hope that's encouraging for someone, you know, maybe even if someone in prison is hearing this that like your story isn't over in the middle of your wilderness, you know? Yeah, it says There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. This is Exodus three, chap chapter three, verse two. Moses stared in amazement. Mm-hmm. And God knew what he used to get his attention. Yeah. So he he got it. Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn't burn up. This is amazing. Moses said to himself, Why isn't that bush burning up? I must go see it. When the Lord saw Moses coming to take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush. Moses, Moses. Yeah. That's really a that's a good point. Yeah. And so there was consequences. Right. Moses was with alone figuring it out for forty years. Now in those forty years he got married to somebody who was a foreigner. Zippy. Zipporah. And I think that there was some difficulty with that relationship and and the p back and forth with his sons and everything, or children. So maybe the consequence of the running, you know, there were consequences that we don't even know about, is what I'm trying to say. Right. And I think that's that that is true. Mm-hmm. Even of gossip. Mm-hmm. There can be consequences later where we don't trust. Yeah. And there's that verse in the Bible that says, Vengeance is mine, says the Lord. And I think it's just natural in our human hearts to want justice, right? Like there are things I get angry about and I want justice for them, but I think I have to trust that God sees that too and there will be that justice. And so part of Moses's justice is Necessarily talked about in that 40 year period. Yeah, that's right. But we have to trust that God was dealing with him and working on his heart. And obviously that's true, or God wouldn't have chosen him to lead his people out, you know? Yes, absolutely. So do you want to talk about Paul too? Because that's Yes. So that's where the question starts. Yeah. And Acts chapter nine is where we're going. Okay. Acts chapter nine talks about Paul's conversion and so he was walking down the road, he was Saul, he was blinded, knocked off his high horse, literally, and couldn't see, and the Lord said, well let me just read it. As he was approaching Damascus, this is chapter nine, verse three, on this mission a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Who are you, Lord? Saul asked, and the voice replied, I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting. Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do. Okay, the men with Saul Saul stood speechless for they heard the sound of someone's voice, but saw no one. This was a direct encounter between God and Saul. I mean like Wake up. Yeah. Much similar to Moses' burning bush. Mm-hmm. and both have to do with light, fire and light. Yes, interesting. Saul picked himself up off the ground, but when he opened his eyes, he was blind. So Jesus said, You're either gonna convert or stay blind. Yeah. I mean there you're not gonna keep on killing my Yeah. Well there's a consequence for you. There's a consequence right off the gate. He's blind and he's gotta be obedient in order to get through it. Right. So right away. It says so his companions led him by the hand to Damascus. He remained there blind for three days and did not eat or drink. I mean that sounds like depression, right? Right. You were confronted with who you were being completely wrong. Mm-hmm. What you've done is completely wrong. And where how do you how do you recover? Yeah. Where do you where do you go from there? if you have or if you have been affected by someone who has hurt you by criminal activity on their part and you did nothing wrong. You may very well feel like what am I supposed to do now? Mm-hmm. I'm I'm left in this dark place. Yeah. I'm blind to the things of light. I'm blind to the good because this hurts. Right. And Paul was there. Now on Paul's side he had done something wrong. He was the herd. He was the herder. Mm-hmm. so now there was a believer in Damascus. This is verse ten, named Anai Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision calling Ananias. Now Ananias is an unbeknownst to him. He's about to be asked by the Lord to do something very dangerous. Mm-hmm. So he's out there just living his life and then the Lord says, Hey, you're gonna go over there to Saul and you're who now? Exactly. Ananias was like, No. Yeah, you know that was all right. Yeah. Sorry, Saul, like I don't know what his last name was, but like this one. Are you sure you got it? So then, yes, Lord, he replied. The Lord told him what to do. But Lord. And how many times have I said, but Lord? Anyway, that's a whole different topic topic, right? So the Lord sends Ananias over there. He said, Saul is my chosen instrument. But I'll show him how much he must suffer because for my name's sake. Yeah. He has killed in my name, now he will suffer in my name. Right. God God balanced. Right. Those scales. Yeah, I mean that shows you justice was God's. Exactly. So Ananias was obedient and he went and found Saul and he laid his hands on him. This is verse seventeen. Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Now hold on, if I'm Saul, I haven't eaten or drinking and thrink drunk and drinkin'. I think drunketh. King James version. It's my speech. he had not eaten or had anything happening. Had a drink, there you go. In three days. he's blind as bat, literally, just sitting there in the dark. And then somebody who he doesn't know, who he likely would have tried to kill before, walks in and says, I know you can't see. Mm-hmm. And God sent me. Well, I mean that's like confirmation. But also, I mean, I would imagine I wanna f be hidden. Like I don't want you to know this about me. You might try to kill me because of the things I've done. Yeah. instantly. So and the and be filled with the Holy Spirit, he said. And Anah You're gonna be filled with the Holy Spirit. And so I'm I gosh, I can't imagine what that must have felt like to Paul. On literally running on empty in darkness and to be filled with light. Yeah. Instantly something like scales fell from Saul's eyes and he regained his sight. Then he got up and he was baptized. Yeah. Afterward he ate some food and regained his strength. And then he starts preaching, preaching like crazy. I really wanted a paragraph right after that that says he apologized to all the believers. He sent out a post or a memo Sealed with his stamp that said, I have been a terrible person. This is all my sins. He goes on in the letters, but at first he's just like, I can't keep this to myself. Mm-hmm. And he starts preaching. Yeah. But you also mentioned something about like with Moses, he was in exile, sees God, and then goes on to do the things God has called him to do. Yeah. Well, we know that God has called him. to suffer for his name and to spread his name. Mm-hmm. So Saul Saul starts preaching. Where does it at first call him Paul? That is a good question. That just came to me. Preaching became more and more powerful. This is Acts 9:22. Saul's preaching became more and more powerful, and the Jews in Damascus couldn't refute his proof that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. They saw fruit. Right. And I think that is one of the main things that we have realized when thinking about this, right? Is that when someone is truly repent following Jesus and repenting. Repentant and then following Jesus. Right. Yes. There is fruit. And so I do there are certainly people out there who claim to have changed, but if you're s skeptical and like there's no fruit and And I if you're listening you're probably thinking, Wait, we're told not to judge, aren't we doing j but we are called Pastor Dwayne Joyner said this at the awakening. He said we're called to be fruit inspectors. And the Bible makes it clear in Galatians chapter five exactly what fruit we're looking for. Right. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. If you have someone who has hurt you, but says that they are sorry and want you to forgive them. But they they lack kindness. Mm-hmm. If they lack self control and then they blame you, well that's gaslighting and manipulation and not a fruit of the spirit. They are indeed not showing you that they are repentant or walking with the Lord. Right. Now I'm not saying every time it's gonna be perfect. But there should be repentance every time. Right. Well and I think I mean not I think I know. The Bible tells us to love everyone, right? Love your neighbor as yourself. But I don't think there's anywhere that says trust everyone. We can love someone without trusting trusting them. Yeah. And j Jesus was on the cross. Mm-hmm. And I had two beside him. Yeah. And one came to eternity with him that day. He knew that the other guy wasn't wasn't it. He wasn't gonna go because he wasn't repentant. He wasn't and it's okay to make that acknowledgement, but not judge them for it. That's the hardest thing. Like if if you're gonna do that, I have to put up walls and I have to build boundaries and I have to say protect my peace. somebody shared something a long time ago that I r has stuck with me because every time I hear protect your peace, I think about Jesus is the Prince of Peace. And actually instead of protecting him, he protects me. So peace protects me. If I remain rooted and abide in him, then his peace will allow me to get out of situations that I shouldn't be in. Yeah. Will allow me protection from peop individuals who shouldn't be in my life. He he's capable. If if the tomb is empty, anything is possible. Right. Including self preserv preservation of his beloved children. And if he did that with Zal. Right. He stopped him in his tracks. And he'll do that now. Right. He will. I think the hard thing is when we see people who get who we feel like get away with things and if that's the case, I just want you to know as two Jesus loving ladies, that's not okay. We're not in support of that. We are in support of that there are consequences for your actions. If they should be legal, they should be legal. But then you're free to choose. Mm-hmm. Like Jesus is capable of his blood covers everything. Right. And we're also we're talking a lot about specifically people who, have had a checkered past like Moses or Paul and then go into ministry of some sort, but everyone who converts is not going to go into ministry. Right. like I think all of us are in ministry in the fact that we love we all have our own ministry. Right. The two greatest commands, right? and so I d I don't think I mean that would be a crazy statistic if like everyone ever who was a criminal who converted was in ministry, you know, and so I think Paul says it. He says to to much to whom To those who have sinned a lot, mm-hmm, they've experienced the most grace. So they w they cannot help but share it. Right. They can't help but testify about it. Yeah. And my friend Crystal. Like my friend Crystal. Like me. Yeah. I mean, you know, I I haven't been in in jail or prison or I haven't had legal consequences, but I have been the worst sinner of all. Yes. that's another Paul quote too, right? In first or second Timothy, he talks about sinners and he says, Of whom I am the worst. Yes, you're right. And I think That's part of it too is that humility. Like if you're being a fruit inspector, does this person have hum Christ like humility, Like are they aware of who they were before they knew Jesus? Right. And do they acknowledge that? And Yes. And I think You were saying like the statistic being high of people who have converted from a checkered past and then become in active in ministry, it's just because like the woman in the well. Mm-hmm. She was at the well by herself because she didn't want to be around people because of her checkered past. And then Jesus goes out of his way to be there with her. And tell her everything she had done wrong. And then she left there evangelizing. Mm-hmm. I feel more loved than I ever have because he sees me and he still revealed himself to me. Is it that story gets me every time I know that Jesus went out of his way and he's the first person in scripture besides his disciples or was she the first person at all that he revealed himself that he revealed a Samaritan woman. Yes. And that should be like the most encouraging thing ever because Yeah, a lot of people are listening like thinking about someone who they need to forgive or our hearts are hardened because of injustice for someone serve. But I was gonna say I mean s it's yourself sometimes who needs the forgiveness and that should be so encouraging because I think I think one of the big turnoffs of Christianity for non believers is feeling like it's unattainable but That's we it is unattainable. Yeah, that's that's the point of it. It is unattainable. We cannot do it for ourselves. We cannot save ourselves. We are miserable, wretched, blackhearted sinners, and he loves us anyway. Thank you, Lord. It's reckless. I am not a good bet. He should not have put all his chips on me, but he did. He put his son on the cross, who died for me, whose blood covers my sins. And that's that's the only thing that makes me worthy. Mm-hmm. Yeah, just because 'Cause we're in ministry and we're like the ones speaking on this Christian podcast. Please make no mistake, Mary, Claire, and Hillary are not worthy. No. but thank you, God, for yes. And that love. This is something I've been studying a lot because I was telling you I've been speaking at a couple different churches. There are two kingdoms on earth really that we have a choice to make. Like we're not gonna choose the kingdom of darkness. I mean, I guess there's some people out there who are like, I want death and destruction. But really the two kingdoms that we battle with are the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of earth. Yeah. And you're wearing your Georgia hat. Good ones. I the illustration I gave, and was When I met Mike, we met in Florida and he was from Illinois, so high college football wasn't a big deal deal up there. So he moved down to Florida and started cheering for the Florida Gators. Mm-hmm. That's tough. Has he converted yet? I'm just kidding. Well, that's this story. So I met him. We we met and started dating and I'm like, You can't cheer for the Gators. Like that makes me sick to my stomach. I'm a diehard Georgia fan. Like I was raised barken. Right. A born barking. so my birthday's in August so like my first football season was I was brand new. And my daddy, I'm pretty sure taught me to bark then. So when Mike tells me he's gonna cheer for the Florida Gators, I'm like, that's not gonna work. He had no idea and I'm like he Went home with me for the first time during football season. It was October. And he comes in Saturday morning. College game days on. The dog. My daddy has this porcelain dog that somebody made him in the 80s. He has it next to his chair. Munson is already doing the pregame show on the radio. TV's muted. wearing full bulldog garb. Yeah. You know what I mean? And Mike's a whispers to me, Don't you dare tell your daddy I thought I could cheer for the Gators. He had thought, Yeah, I'll just cheer the Gators, but when Georgia plays Florida, I'll just cheer for Georgia and that'll be fine. After that experience, he realized that there was no dipping your toes in the water of the Florida Gators. Like he saw the air of his ways and went full on Georgia Bulldog by proxy. Now he's all in. But it's the same. The kingdom of earth and the kingdom of heaven and you have to make a choice. Mm-hmm. Are you gonna live in the kingdom of light? Mm-hmm. In the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven. We are called. I've been real challenged the past s six weeks or so, but in all this challenging that's going on, my husband is listening to Dallas Willard's book, The King The Scandal of Grace. The scandal of the kingdom. And I got real mad about something. Did we talk about this? I don't think so. he said Dallas Willard asked a question that all Christians should ask. How should we best prepare for heaven? And Dallas Willard says the answer is to live as if heaven is already here. Well, that just made me mad. I told Mike as he was explaining this to me. I'm like, I don't like that. Because you're cheapen, cheapening heaven for me. Because I am making lists of all the things that aren't going to be in heaven. And I don't want to live like this as heaven. Because it's not. There's sin and there's evil and there's the thief that comes to steal. Kill and destroy, like it's not gonna be in heaven up there. And then I listened to the part of the book and it I started praying and thinking, and I was convicted, and and then I realized that I thought heaven was just a change in circumstances. I thought it was just a better place. I thought it was just no more tears, and and that sounds crazy, but it's like it is. Contentment despite circumstances. So living as a citizen of heaven on earth, I mean, means that I live above the darkness. Yeah. That I don't let it penetrate my heart and soul and spirit. Because I'm so plugged into G to God, to Jesus, to being his disciple, to walk in with him while I'm here, so that other people know his goodness. And so when you look at it that way, these things of this world are so temporary. They're fleeting. They're gonna they're gonna stay here when we go on to glory with God. But we can live like it's already here. Yeah. We can live at Well, it's not it's a beautiful day today. This feels like heaven. But like when it's natty and nine hundred degrees. Right. We can live like we're in heaven if we focus on what matters. The eternal things. That God is with us, that the sun is shining. He will never leave us. Yeah. That he will walk us through anything we encounter. Yeah. And I know this seems like a natural segue. in a second, I want you to share the quote that you told me about forgiveness, but can I use one more football analogy? Of course. Okay, so and I'm sorry that we have the mic and we're both Georgia fans, so this is kind of unfair. But my husband, my brothers, my sisters in law. all went to Georgia Tech. Okay. So they're all better than me. I'm just kidding. I tell them, you know, I joke around with them about that. But sometimes like one of their things with Georgia is they don't like Georgia fans. Okay. And they're like, everybody and their mother is a Georgia fan. And they're like, Georgia Tech fans like are true Georgia Tech fans. And like it's just crazy to me all these people who are Georgia fans and like don't you know, whatever. Maybe they've never even stepped foot in Athens, Georgia or whatever, like all these fans. But then like I thought about that when you were saying Mike being around your family and seeing the excitement and the joy and stuff. It's like that's what made me think about forgiveness is so what if someone didn't go to Georgia? Like you should want them to be a part of it. Like why do you not want more people cheering for your team? And so even if it looks a little bit different, if someone's walk with Jesus, like I'll just say it, I'm privileged, I grew up with parents who knew Jesus and took me to church and I mean I've had hardships in my life, but it's been pretty easy, you know? And so like I don't know, I think we need to show a little more grace when someone's walk doesn't look like ours. Absolutely. And this reminds me completely of something I was heard on a podcast, Lisa Turker's Therapy and Theology. I love that. She said, she was had a friend who was just in a really tough situation and she knew what she needed to do. Mm-hmm. And she said she wanted to tell her so bad. And finally she was convicted and it hit her. How egotistical and naive is it of me to think my perspective is right is the only right perspective. Yeah. And so when you think about it like that, you see somebody with a checkered past or somebody that you disagree with their lifestyle or somebody that you see that you just don't like. Yeah. How egotistical and naive is it of us to not know what they've walked through. Right. To not know what they've heal are trying to heal from, but expect them to behave in a way that we find pleasing to God. Yeah. I mean there are ways to act that are pleasing to God. We know that. but what if they're more pleasing to God today than they were five year five days ago? Right. What if and it still looks terrible to us. Mm-hmm. But that's our perspective. Our our our own hang ups, our own things that f shade our vision about somebody else. So we have to be so plugged in to it's almost like a horse with blinders. Yeah. To not look at the race that my my brother or sister is running, but to just focus on what God has in front of me. And I also feel like when you're really walking with Jesus, every time you do sort of get on your high horse a little bit, so to speak it like humbles you and brings you back to your knees to realize, because you realize how much grace you were given, it's just a reminder that like, hey, I'm not better than anyone else. I needed the blood of Jesus just as much as anyone. Yes. So what's the quote about forgiveness? unforgiveness is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. So if you find yourself having been hurt from from somebody else's ignorance, malintent, whatever their the root of their behavior is that has impacted you maybe you don't even know it, but if you have found yourself hurt by somebody else and you're having a hard time forgiving them, understand that forgiving forgiving them doesn't free them from the consequences of their actions, but it frees you from the weight of it. Right. It's not your business anymore. You might not have had control over what they did. You might not have control over if the legal system will be show justice. Mm-hmm. But you can forgive simply because that draws you nearer to the Father. And if you're brokenhearted about it, Jesus is near to the broken heart. That's right. He is there. He is piling grace up for you, grace to get through the day. And as much as we want you to know that he can change that person who hurt you, you're his priority when you're heartbroken. Yeah. If you s are listening to this and you're just finding yourself getting more mad because you're like, I cannot do this. No, you probably can't. Yeah. But God can. That's right. When we release it to him and lay it at the foot of the cross, he will take it and he will make it into something more beautiful than we could ever imagine. Yes. Just by saying out loud right now, just go ahead. Think about the person and say, I forgive you. I forgive you. Say a name if you need to. And then I just want you to open your hands and drop it. You don't have to carry that around anymore. dear Heavenly Father, intercede in this moment. Yes. Touch the person who has just dropped this heavy weight, Lord. Pick them up in your loving arms and tuck them under your wings like a little mama hen. Let them feel you surrounding them with your love, your mercy, your justice. You will fight. For your beloved. You will not let them continue to be persecuted. Speak that over them now, Lord. Draw near. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen.