Richard Foster, author

Richard Foster is the author with whom I always find companionship. His book jacket calls him compelling and sensitive and I agree with that assessment. It doesn't matter which of his books I read, it will have meaning. This book is entitled "Prayer".

Bingo. "Suffice it to say here that we who follow Jesus Christ have been given the gracious ministry of bringing God's forgiveness to one another (John 20:23) Foster points out that the entire l8th chapter of Matthew is devoted to Jesus' teaching on the giving and receiving of forgiveness, and smackdab in the middle it says, "Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.: (Matt. l8:18) Did I miss these words along the way or did I tear those pages out of my Bible on purpose, knowing that I would have no further need of them.

I better look at this more closely and see what it entails. I ask myself often the question, "What is in it for me?" Does this hit me where I carry the scars? My first thought is that it is saying that you get what you give! So, I have not treated the people who have harmed me emotionally with open warfare or contempt. I have cut them off from my life and I hoped for the same full measure My problem is that I want the same measure from them and they keep trying to screw with me. I want them to give me what I am giving them.

Later on in the book, Foster (p. l87) writes:

So it is with forgiveness. As long as the only cry heard among us is for vengeance, there can be no reconciliation. If our hearts are so narrow as to see only how others have hurt and offended us, we cannot see how we have offended God and so find no need to seek forgiveness. If we are always calculating in our hearts how much this one and that one have violated our rights, by the very nature of things we will not be able to pray this prayer.

I am busted. I have not spent a great deal of time considering how I have offended God.