Closing the Account

 Here I need to give credit to Andy Stanley for these thoughts on part of a sermon where he talked about closing the account. This is once again talking about forgiving others.  Andy said several things that stuck with me. When there has been a wrong done and that is why someone needs to forgive, they have been wronged. That is not even an issue, there is no question, you have been wronged, and forgiving someone does not change that. It is you that closes the account by forgiving.  Sometimes they can't even pay the debt, they can't go back and unspeak the words that were spoken. It is impossible. Often the damage cannot be undone even if they wanted to. That is why the injured must close the account. It made sense to me, because I have been the offender at times. I have been on both sides, the offended and the offender.  Andy gave three steps to close the account. 1. Identify WHO. Who injured you, who owes the debt? 2. Determine WHAT. What was done to injure you? What is the debt that needs to be paid? 3. Declare it CANCELED. Identify who and what, write it out if you have to. They (WHO) did this (WHAT) to me. Then you declare it canceled. You declare the debt has been paid. You forgive the offense, the deed that was done. It is true that often they couldn't even pay the debt if they wanted to. The debt is too big, or perhaps they don't even know the debt exists. You cannot eliminate the offense, but you do cancel the debt. Just like Jesus did for our sins, he canceled the debt, Jesus declared it paid in pull. Because he forgave us, we forgive others. We follow his example. Even when the offender realizes his wrong and says he is sorry, the debt is not paid until the offended cancels the debt. Sometimes Andy says stuff that really sticks with me. There was more to this sermon than cancelling the debt, closing the account but once again it speaks to forgiving others, a core value of being a Christian.  This part really stuck with me. I have been there and couldn't pay the debt. Both to Jesus and to others.  God bless, LVZ.