Once again a great question concerning the meaning of life has come from one of our readers. The person asked: “Do I deserve to be forgiven for drug addiction that greatly hurt my parents?” My immediate and unqualified answer was, “Yes.”
Everyone deserves forgiveness. Why? Because everyone has made mistakes. Some mistakes are hurtful. Some not so much. None of us is perfect. We all need to be forgiven and deserve to be forgiven. If someone were perfect, never having made a mistake, never said or done something stupid, then perhaps that someone could pass judgment on another. However, even God, whom many people feel is Perfection, forgives. That is to say, from my perspective, what I know of as God is completely accepting. Forgiveness is a given in God’s life, both literally and figuratively.
I have come to know I deserve forgiveness for this reason. God accepts me as I am. This is the reason everyone else deserves forgiveness as well. God accepts you just as you are.
Forgiveness, then, works for the forgiven. Obviously, the burden of shame and guilt can be lifted from the shoulders of the person who has said or done something that was hurtful. (And believe me when I say that I know it is not always easy to forgive. Some things are done or said that cause irrevocable harm.) When a person apologizes for what was said or done, tries to make amends, attempts to never do it again, then forgiveness offers a way to recover the natural dignity that belongs to the offender. (This does not necessarily mean that punishment should not be meted out.)
Nor does it mean that the offense should be forgotten. To forget about something that could cause you harm again; it is a fool’s way to live. When forgiveness is given, then every attempt ought to be made to move on as if the offense is forgotten.
People often forget, however, what forgiveness does for the forgiver. It most definitely lightens his or her load as well. To bear a grudge, to carry around a grievance weighs down the soul. It literally puts up a blockage which restricts the free flow of God’s love. Now, I did not say that God stops loving. I said the flow of that love is restrained. The person doing the restraining is the non-forgiver. It’s like a blight upon the soul. It will actually eat away at the soul of the carrier. When the non-forgiver looks at the one who needs forgiveness, all that can be seen is that blight. This is self-inflicted misery. The wretchedness that one feels when one does not forgive is of the non-forgiving person’s own making. Spiritual homicide upon the one who need forgiveness and the one who is non-forgiving.
Thus, the person who caused hurt in their parents deserves to be forgiven for at least these two reasons; 1. All fall short of the glory of God in us; no one never makes a mistake. 2. Burdens on both sides of the forgiveness fence are lifted and cast away.
Do you know someone who needs forgiving? Try to forgive in this moment. Do it now.
Are you the one who needs forgiveness? Apologize, try to make amends, try never to commit the forgiveness-needing-act again. Do it now.
And I invite you to pick up more info about deservedness in your life. I ask to you sign up for Free Instant Access to some of my Force-Source-Resources. One of which is titled, “All the Best – You Deserve It.” Remember, one bit of information can give you a superior point of activation. Just click here and you’ll be on your way. (Or, if it appears there, please sign up now in the upper right hand corner.) These resources will change your life as you better understand the meaning of life.
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The search for the meaning of life is as old as reasoning humankind. The desire for happiness is nearly that old as well. Ages and ages of people have asked, “Where is happiness?” They have looked in many, many places. To name just a few: in substances that alter the mind, in totally abandonment to sensory pleasures, in power, in wisdom, in possession. Some of the places where humankind have looked are not inherently bad or evil. Most simply are, that is, they exist, and we humans tend to overindulge in such and lose our way.
