Barriers to Forgiveness, Part 7: The Weak vs. Strong Will
Never giving up. Perseverance. The strong will. Forgiveness is hard work and the more severely you are hurt by another person’s injustice, the harder will be you work. It is too easy to enter forgiveness with a kind of euphoria, full of hope that all will be well soon. As you then start to sprint, you realize that you are in a marathon……not a sprint. It is then that your strong will has to come into the picture to aid you in continuing to practice forgiveness until you make significant progress.
Learning to forgive those who hurt you deeply is analogous to starting a physical fitness program. You may start with a light heart and much enthusiasm, and these wane as the exercises get routine, as the muscles get sore, as the enthusiasm melts. It is then that sheer determination must help you through. It is similar with forgiveness. After a while, the practice of forgiveness may become a chore rather than an enthusiastic exercise of hope. Please note that the perseverance is well worth the pain of continuing the marathon. After a while you will notice an emotional strength building in you. After a while you will see that you are now stronger than the hurts against you. After a while you will see that through the exercise of your strong will, you are now forgivingly fit. Let the strong will help you to complete the journey of forgiveness.
Robert
This is one of my weaknesses, to persevere. I kind of drift into not trying any more. The drifting is so gradual I am unaware that I am leaving projects behind as I go to the next. Being aware that I have to work on the strong will helps me.
As modern life gets softer and softer, will the human heart fail to walk the complete path of forgiveness? If people know of its benefits that could be the prime motivation for completing the journey.
The process of forgiveness is a challenge for me. It actually gets better the more I try. A strong will is part of this. I need God’s grace to stay strong this way.
Even a strong will takes time to develop. We need patience as this matures. I do think that practice and more practice is a key to this kind of strengthening of the will.
People still do persevere but it is in the easy areas such as constant snacking or napping, to use just two examples. It is in the hard areas of life that the weakness of spirit is seen because it is not hard to persevere in pleasure.