Day 197 - Power Medicine

Thoughts that have come from various quotes taken from the book, "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim Based Society" by John H. Hovis. Click here to link directly to the audio file.

**********

"Until we come to a place where we have been dosed with enough forgiveness to get us free from the offender that has caused us such pain, we will never have the faith to appreciate the potential good in others. Worse yet, we will never be able to see the good in God when we come face to face with all the bad that can happen to us in this world."

As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 215.

There are some days that my faith in the human species is all but gone. Have you ever felt that way? What got you to this point? If you are anything like me, it was all the stupid and damaging things people can do to one another that has made it almost impossible for me to see any good an any person in the world today.

Believe me, I know that this view has been confirmed time and time again by all I hear on the news. People can be radically cruel to one another. Victimhood is alive and well because of the victim thinking tendencies we all seem to gravitate to today in our Victim Based Society. Will this ever change?

I believe it can change. Believe me, it won't be easy. The medicine required to make change happen is a costly and very unpleasant course of action. The treatment for change when it comes to beginning to see the good in my fellow human being requires massive doses of forgiveness.

Forgiveness is a hard pill to swallow. It is worse than any other medication I have ever had to take. Like all other medicines I have seen, it takes time for the medication to work. Forgiveness is that way as well. It takes time for the dose to build up in us in ways where the cause of all the negative feelings is removed. What has to be treated is the issue of offense.

Offense is what makes it so hard to ever believe in any goodness in my fellow man. Not a day goes by that someone doesn't do something that offends me. Usually the offense is pretty silly when compared to some of the horrific things one person can do to another. That really doesn't matter where offense is concerned. The severity of the offense isn't really at issue when it comes to the dose of forgiveness required to get the offense out of our system. The key is to take our medicine until the course of treatment is completed.

That's the only way we will ever stay in the victor's place of seeing goodness in this world. It is when we forgive that we have the best chance at letting those things that happened in the past not control what we do in the future. There will always be reasons for us to need to take our medicine. As long as people let this world drive who they are, offense will be there and the need for forgiveness will always be what is needed for us to live out our victor status.

The Bible is pretty clear on our need for the medicine of forgiveness. Take a look at today's reading with me now.

So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it. Colossians 3:13-14 (MSG)

I love the discussion of a wardrobe in our reading today. Victors are to be clothed in royal garments. Those garments are woven with the threads of compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength and discipline. Garments made of such a fabric is like a bullet-proof vest. They can protect us from the deadly attacks the haters in this world bring our way. Forgiveness helps make our garments function properly. It is the binding that brings this ensemble all together. When we are properly clothed as a victor the world comes to know the power of the word LOVE.

Have you taken your medicine today? I guarantee there has been, is now or will be someone or something that will make it so forgiveness will be required in your life today. Don't miss your dose! The longer you wait to begin your healing regiment the longer it will take for the medicine to do its work. Make the fact that God was quick to forgive you be motivation enough to be quick to forgive. Watch as the power of Love flows through you in world changing ways as you get offense out of your life using the power of forgiveness today.