I think many times we believe that if we forgive someone that means that suddenly we are accepting what they did did not hurt us, it was not wrong and we are fine with them!
In some cases, that might be.
Let’s say you really hurt someone, on accident, on purpose, but you really hurt them. They ended up missing a finger. They may forgive you, you can say you are sorry all day long, but the finger will never come back. They will always be missing a finger.
Sometimes a hurt, even though it can heal, some hurt is permanent. It will always still hold the consequence. I guarantee, you are never going to hang out with that friend when he is using a knife ever again.
But doesn’t that mean you haven’t forgiven him? Shouldn’t you be fine with hanging out with him, his knife, and just remember that he didn’t mean to do it the first time? No!
We need to remember to use wisdom. Some people make very poor choices, we can love and forgive them, but sometimes a consequence of our actions mean that there cannot be the same relationship or sometime there is not even any relationship anymore.
Forgiveness is sometimes more about you than the recipient. It is about letting go of the hurt, so that every time you look at the missing finger, you are not angry inside. You still don’t like knives, you don’t hang out with that friend when he is cutting up meat, but you have let go of the anger inside so that you do not become someone that may cause hurt to others in the same way.