Latest / HAVE FAITH LET IT BEGIN® / Forgive. Love. Begin Again.

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Forgive. Love. Begin Again. · HAVE FAITH LET IT BEGIN®

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  Welcome to Have Faith, Let It Begin. This is Ariel Santana.
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  Can you believe I'm seven years old already? I'm old enough now to introduce my dad.
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  Ladies and gentlemen, your host, my dad, Angel Santana.
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  Two thousand came and the spark was lit. A testimony raw, it wouldn't quit.
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  His mother's voice, a guiding sound.
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  Good morning, everybody, and welcome to Have Faith, Let It Begin. My name is Angel.
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  And when this day begins, you
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  know, the Lord has blessed us with so many different things in this world.
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  I am currently working, so every once in a while, I'm going to have to hit pause
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  to take certain things. And I apologize for that, but that was the only way
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  that I can get this episode out.
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  So let me ask you something this morning.
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  When did it become so easy to stop loving somebody because we disagree with them.
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  Think about it. Somebody says something we don't like, we're done with them.
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  Somebody makes a mistake, we remember it forever.
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  Somebody hurts our feelings, and suddenly, everything good they've ever done
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  gets forgotten because of one bad moment.
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  And don't even get me started on social media. We have a block,
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  we have a delete, and we have an unfollow.
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  Sometimes I think we're better at removing people from our lives than we are
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  trying to understand them.
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  But what if today we gave each other a little more grace?
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  Forgiveness isn't easy. Forgiveness is one of those words that really easy to
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  say when you're not the person who got hurt.
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  You just have to forgive them. Okay.
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  You weren't there. You didn't hear what they said. You didn't experience what they did.
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  You didn't carry the hurt afterward. So I don't want to sit here this morning
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  and pretend forgiveness is easy because it's not.
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  And forgiveness doesn't mean what happened was okay. It doesn't mean trust automatically returns.
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  It doesn't mean every relationship has to go back to the way it was.
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  Sometimes healthy boundaries are necessary, But forgiveness,
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  oh, forgiveness can begin when we decide.
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  I'm not going to go and start saying one thing or the other,
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  but think about this. When forgiveness begins, we have to decide.
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  We have to say, I'm not going to allow what happened yesterday to control who
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  I become tomorrow. That's different.
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  Love one another. Jesus gives us a pretty straightforward command in John 13,
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  verse 34. Love one another.
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  Not only the people who agree with us Not only the people who vote like us Not
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  only the people who worship exactly like us And not only people who never irritate us,
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  love one another. And.
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  That's where our faith gets difficult, our Christianity gets difficult.
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  Our background of our religion gets difficult, because it's really easy for
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  me to talk about God's love when I'm surrounded by people that I already love.
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  The challenge is carrying that love into that place where it's difficult.
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  Can I still treat someone with dignity when we disagree? Can I listen before I respond?
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  Can I apologize when I'm the one who got it wrong? Oh, we don't like that one.
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  Because sometimes we're praying, Lord, please change that person.
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  And God's looking at us like, angel, we might need to work on you first.
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  Maybe we need more grace. Imagine
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  what would happen if we started giving people a little bit more grace.
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  Because everybody you meet is carrying something.
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  The person who snapped at you this morning, you don't know what happened before
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  they walked through the door.
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  No, that person who didn't return your call, maybe they're overwhelmed.
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  The person who seemed distant, maybe they're hurting.
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  That doesn't excuse bad behavior, but it might change the way we respond to it.
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  And sometimes the most Christ-like thing we can do isn't winning an argument.
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  It's saying, I don't completely understand what you're going through,
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  but I'm willing to listen. So here's the challenge.
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  Think of one person. Maybe it's somebody you need to forgive.
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  Maybe it's somebody you need to apologize to. And maybe it's someone you've
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  judged without knowing their entire story.
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  Doesn't that ring a bell for some of us? Or maybe it's simply somebody who needs
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  to hear, hey, I love you, and I'm thinking about you.
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  Take one more step. Send a text. Make the phone call. Say the prayer.
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  Offer the apology. And if reconciliation isn't healthy or possible,
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  you can still pray, God, help me release the anger I am carrying.
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  Because sometimes forgiveness isn't reopening a door. Sometimes forgiveness,
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  is finally putting down the weight you've been carrying through it.
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  So let's end down a prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you for another day and another
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  opportunity to become more like people. And you've called us to be.
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  Lord, teach us to forgive. Teach me to forgive, Lord, because God knows I need to do that as well.
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  Teach us to love. Teach us to listen before we judge and offer grace before we assume the worst.
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  For anyone listening who has been deeply hurt, we ask you to meet them in that pain.
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  We're not asking them to forget what happened or return to situations that are unhealthy.
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  We ask you to begin healing what has been wounded.
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  And so again, for anyone listening who has been deeply hurt,
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  We ask you to meet them in that pain.
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  We're not asking them to forget what happened or return the situations that are unhealthy.
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  We ask you to begin healing that has been wounded. And Father,
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  show us where we need forgiveness to.
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  Give us the humility to apologize when we're wrong, the courage to forgive when
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  we're ready, and the wisdom to know when boundaries are necessary.
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  Most importantly, remind us that every person we encounter is someone you love.
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  Let our words reflect that. Let our actions reflect that, and let our lives
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  reflect that. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
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  Before we close out today, and before you go today, remember this.
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  You don't have to fix every relationship. You don't have to agree with everybody.
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  And forgiveness doesn't always happen in a single moment.
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  But today, yes, today, we can choose love over hate, grace over judgment,
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  and forgiveness over carrying yesterday's anger into tomorrow.
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  And maybe that's one more step today.
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  I'm Angel Santana, and this is Have Faith, Let It Begin. A real people,
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  real stories, real faith.
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  A little faith can change your entire day. So have faith, let it begin.