I attended a meeting recently where everyone was encouraged to speak their thoughts about a particularly sensitive subject. In this day and age when we see protests shown on the news with people shouting others’ opinions down you might think this is the type of behavior that would occur at a meeting such as this – but it was not.

This meeting was among a group of people who profess Christ Jesus as our Savior and who earnestly try to follow in Jesus’ footsteps and teachings. The meeting was conducted quietly, with each person speaking in turn, some sweetly shedding tears at the thought that they might offend another. Oh, what a blessing this meeting of Christ’s followers was to me.

I imagine that each of us left with the same strong opinions we came in with, but we were able to calmly voice our views and concerns out loud among those whom we have loved and cared for over many years. We have lived together spiritually, some of us for decades, and have shared joys and woes, tears and smiles, new babies and sudden unexpected deaths. We have a deep, deep love for each other and, after all, forgiveness abounds in the followers of Jesus.

You might ask why this is if you are unfamiliar with Christianity. The central tenet of belief for those of us that acknowledge Christ as our Savior is that He died to pay the penalty for our sins (death exchanged for forgiveness) and arose from death to set us free to live eternal life with Him. When we acknowledge Jesus as our Savior we are excited to learn from Him and follow His ways. We find that “… if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.”

Jesus forgives me! I am forgiven! And following Jesus also means I forgive others as Jesus has forgiven me. Even when in all honesty I have my feelings hurt because a dear friend views something in a different light than do I and our opinions do not concur. I forgive because “… God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Jesus died so that I can be forgiven by God. He is my example, and I need to go to the nth degree to follow the pattern of my Savior Jesus and forgive others as He has forgiven me – even if they have not done anything against me.

This forgiveness is not always natural or easy, but I have learned over many years that the sooner I make my mind up to forgive, the easier it is. That is because if I let a hurt linger in my soul I start to torment myself with it. You might know what I mean when I say that if a hurt rolls around long enough in my soul I get irritated and uneasy. God’s answer is to forgive.

I must say that I am so happy this is His command to me because if I forgive immediately, whether a real or imagined slight, it is gone from my soul. That hurt no longer irritates me, it no longer makes me lose sleep, and it no longer makes me pace in vexation. And now, with years of practice, I find it is a lot easier to accomplish much more quickly. When I recognize what is bothering me is my unforgiveness of someone for something said or done, I immediately hand everything over to God and ask Him to show me the way to forgiveness. Do I need to tell you that God is happy to help me with all such requests? Of course He is.

God wants His children to live in peace with each other. The Apostle Paul told the Romans, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” That is the goal. Internal peace is possible if it comes from God directing our hearts.

I find that although others may not be at peace with me I can live at peace with them as my choice. If they continue behaving badly because they are unsettled I try to avoid them but never say anything that would cause them further distress.

I have made a firm decision and have chosen to have a quiet heart – at peace with God and man to the best of my ability. It is a joy to live with this decision because I intentionally act with the belief that everyone around me has also chosen to forgive as Jesus does, and they have also chosen to have a quiet heart.