Oscar Wilde said that we should "always forgive our enemies because nothing annoys
them so much."
That's is just the first of 5 reasons that you should make forgiveness a habit that I'm
going to be sharing with you in today's video.
Stay tuned!
Hey everyone, welcome back to the channel, my name is Justin and you are watching That
Christian Vlogger.
Today's episode is brought to you from my friends over at fabslife.com, but stay tuned
to the end of the video, because we'll be doing a special giveaway.
Let's get started!
Reason number two.
Forgiveness can help your physical health.
Karen Swartz- director of mood disorders at John Hopkins Hospital says that, "there
is an enormous physical burden to being hurt and disappointed."
Studies show that chronic anger can actually increase the risk of depression, heart disease,
and even diabetes.
But forgiveness, can lead to lower stress levels and improving health.
The great buddha said that Holding onto anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent
of throwing it at someone else; at the end of the day, you are the one who gets burned.
Reason number three- forgiveness helps you to enjoy life
I get that forgiveness can be difficult at times.
But you know what's more difficult?
Not forgiving.
Here's what I mean.
When Emily and I have our fights, usually theres this really awkward tension between
the two of us.
This unacknowledged elephant in the room.
Sometimes this tension lasts hours, and other times it can last days.
Now, if I'm alone at home during this awkwardness, it doesn't really matter all that much.
But where things get really weird is when we're in the middle of a fight and we have
to keep going about life- maybe we had dinner plans with some friends, maybe family are
visiting or we just have to go to work.
For me, I try my best to take my mind off the fight and to be present, but what usually
happens is that I am so distracted that I can't really focus.
It's like that fight that we had back at home poisoned everything and sucked the life
out it all.
And I know what the remedy is.
If we could just resolve the fight and forgive each other, then we could move past it.
In the famous chapter of love, the Bible says that, "love keeps no record of wrongs."
I've learned that fights and arguments really have the potential to steal your joy.
So, if you really want to enjoy life and to enjoy love, you have to learn how to forgive.
Reason number four- Forgiveness changes the world
In the description box below, I'm going to share with you a video that you NEED to
watch.
It's a TED talk of two woman sharing an amazing story of the power of forgiveness.
The first woman lost her son at the World Trade Center attacks on September 11 and the
second woman's son was convicted of a role in those attacks and was sentenced to a life
sentence.
It's an amazingly inspiring story and I highly recommend you check it out.
What stood out to me from this story is that when we learn to forgive each other, we can
literally change the world.
Forgiveness is definitely difficult, but forgiveness can penetrate hate, resentment, and alleviate
our fears.
Many times, God uses these moments to help teach us something about ourselves and something
about the world around us.
In fact, if we are open to what God is doing in those moments, I believe that you'll
find that God often turns our greatest enemies into our most profound teachers.
Reason number five- Forgiveness is a true demonstration of strength
Growing up as a young child, I had this distorted idea of what it truly meant to be a man- what
it looked like to be strong.
I enrolled in tae-kwon-do, eventually earning my black belt because I had watched dozens
of Bruce lee, Jackie Chan, and Jet Li movies idolizing these men and wanting to be as strong
as they were.
To me, being a strong man meant having the ability to fight other people and win.
Being strong meant never backing down and never giving up.
But as you can imagine, this model of strength really screwed up some of my early romantic
relationships.
It made it really difficult to be able to grow and to learn from my mistakes- because
in my mind, I could never admit that I made any mistakes.
Ghandi said that, "the weak can never forgive.
Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong."
I've learned that it is a true demonstration of strength to be able to do what Jesus did.
To be able to look the very person who hurt you in the eye and to be able to say, I forgive
you.
This is the very model of true strength.
To be able to say things like, "what you did hurt me, but I will follow the example
of Christ and forgive you as He forgave me!"
So giveaway time.
I'm interested in hearing from you guys what is a good reason to forgive that I didn't
mention.
Share your thoughts below and vote for your favorite reason in the comments below and
my friends over at fabslife and I will pick a few of our favorite comments to win some
free swag.
You might win a shirt like the one I'm wearing today or even one of these cool hats! fabslife.com
was started in Carlsbad California by a 13 year old named Brandon Moss who was inspired
to create this company after being bullied at school.
So, do me a favor and check out his website if you've enjoyed this video.
Partners like forgive and be strong are crucial to helping the mission of this ministry and
I'd appreciate you guys giving them some love.
But until next time, "I'm That Christian Vlogger" and I want to encourage you to
experience, "faith in the first person."
God bless!
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