{"id":651,"date":"2015-06-20T11:27:41","date_gmt":"2015-06-20T11:27:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/?p=651"},"modified":"2015-06-20T11:27:41","modified_gmt":"2015-06-20T11:27:41","slug":"forgiveness-is-not-about-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2015\/06\/forgiveness-is-not-about-us.html","title":{"rendered":"Forgiveness is Not about Us"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I heard on the news this morning that we forgive to be free from the hurt an injury. I heard we forgive because God commanded it. I heard we forgive in order to move on from the tragedy.<\/p>\n<p>All that is true but it isn&#8217;t the real reason to forgive. The real reason and basis for forgiveness is to reveal the character of God. God is all about forgiveness &#8211; it is His nature. The precious people from the AME in Charleston are showing us an example of the character and nature of God. If ever we saw it on display, it was last night.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>But, please let us remember, forgiveness is a process. These folks made the choice to forgive now it has to be worked out and lived. It does not meant they won&#8217;t get angry, have feelings of revenge, weep, scream&#8230;they most assuredly will. But they won&#8217;t stay there. The grieving process will begin. It is messy &#8211; even for the Christian. But it is healing.<\/p>\n<p>The pain is real. The loss is immense. The grace of God works in and through it to bring God glory. That is what those precious people did last night &#8211; glorify God. Our ultimate purpose is to glorify God.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I heard on the news this morning that we forgive to be free from the hurt an injury. I heard we forgive because God commanded it. I heard we forgive in order to move on from the tragedy. All that is true but it isn&#8217;t the real reason to forgive. The real reason and basis&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":466,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,20,39,28,44,16,82,3,81],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-choice","category-current-issues-in-the-news","category-forgiveness","category-grief","category-hope","category-personal-thoughts","category-revenge","category-safe-place","category-tragedy"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Forgiveness is Not about Us - Safe Place with Ruth Graham<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2015\/06\/forgiveness-is-not-about-us.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Forgiveness is Not about Us - Safe Place with Ruth Graham\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I heard on the news this morning that we forgive to be free from the hurt an injury. I heard we forgive because God commanded it. I heard we forgive in order to move on from the tragedy. All that is true but it isn&#8217;t the real reason to forgive. The real reason and basis&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2015\/06\/forgiveness-is-not-about-us.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Safe Place with Ruth Graham\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-06-20T11:27:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ruth Graham\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Forgiveness is Not about Us - Safe Place with Ruth Graham","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2015\/06\/forgiveness-is-not-about-us.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Forgiveness is Not about Us - Safe Place with Ruth Graham","og_description":"I heard on the news this morning that we forgive to be free from the hurt an injury. 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No stranger to heartache, she seeks to provide a Biblical perspective to her journey of faith. She is warm and talks openly about her own need for a safe place as she journeyed through her husband\u2019s infidelities, her subsequent depression, her divorces, her teenage daughter\u2019s two unplanned pregnancies, another daughter\u2019s bulimia, her son\u2019s battle with drugs, grandson's special needs and returning to school at age 40. Although born into the \"famous\" Graham family Ruth did not feel she had a safe place to unburden the secrets of her life. She felt she had to project and image and wear a mask that she \"had it all together\". She had to meet others' expectations of her. It was not until a mid-life crisis did that she fully discover the unconditional love and grace of God. Her life's passion is to connect people to that same grace and love she found, no matter who they are or what sin. Ruth is an experienced conference speaker and Bible teacher. She has appeared on a variety of radio and television shows including: Good Morning, America, The Hour of Power, Focus on the Family, Moody Broadcasting, Fox &amp; Friends, CBN, Life Today and CNN. She has worked in publishing for over 14 years and is the founder of the Ruth Graham &amp; Friends Ministry. Ruth has three grown children and nine grandchildren. She lives in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. 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