By Rev. Gian Carlo Villatoro
Founding Pastor, Victory Church Odessa
There are moments in life when you just don’t know what to do with your relationships. Life can be so confusing on occasion because of the sufferings we all live. Sometimes those sufferings are the result of injustice in this world, like right now as we see in this world in the Middle East.
Sometimes the sufferings come as a result of accidents, illnesses, even wrongdoings, intentionally executed by evildoers, or hurting others. Sometimes the sufferings are the result of death, divorce. Suffering in life is real. When we go through all those sufferings, we say things that might hurt others deeply. We can become cruel, because when we are hurting, sometimes we explode.
Eventually we all calm down, and that is when we have the opportunity to think about what is going on. It is precisely during those moments when you need to remember the words from our Lord Jesus who told us to search for reconciliation in one another.
It’s up to you, when the time comes, whether it’s because you need to go and ask for forgiveness, or whether you are going to be willing to forgive when someone asks you for forgiveness. The truth is that in the eyes of the Lord, it really doesn’t matter whose fault it is. The challenge is that our good Lord is always expecting our willingness to reconcile. Do your best to reconcile with others. If you need to say you’re sorry, do so. And if you need to forgive, then do it. Reconciliation is needed for our own souls. That is how we please God.
