Today, I have been pondering restoration of relationships. I have been thinking about how many of us have prayed for a restored relationship with someone but we really weren't prepared to forgive them for the hurt they caused us. If the offender apologizes but we are not prepared to forgive, how can the relationship be restored? When we haven't done anything wrong to cause the relationship to be strained or broken but we harbor hard feelings or a self-righteous attitude, how can we say we have not sinned?
"And now I will show you the most excellent way. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." (I Corinthians 12:31b-13:8a NIV)
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