In his book, “Leadership Is Dead – How Influence Is Reviving It” Jeremie Kubicek states this:
“Practice forgiveness aggressively.” (page 153).
I have been thinking about this for days……
What does that mean?
What would that even look like?
“To practice” means to do something repeatedly or frequently. We practice so as to be able to acquire a skill or to become proficient at something. Example…..we may practice an instrument until we are able to play a song so that it is recognizable. In the act of practicing something, we do it until it becomes habit – something that comes easy to achieve. In doing something “aggressively”, we do it actively and with boldness.
So if we were to apply this to the act of forgiveness, it may look like this:
We actively & boldly give up resentment towards a person that has offended us. We may even give up the desire to punish them for what they have done to us. We let go of our resentment towards them. And we forgive, repeatedly & frequently, until we become proficient – fully able – to forgive.
I think Jesus explained it best in a conversation with Peter….
Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?
“Jesus answered, “”I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.”
(Matthew 18: 21-22 NIV).
What is Jesus saying here?
“Practice forgiveness aggressively.”
