Many of you have asked for different things regarding Sunday's sermon on reconciliation.  Within the sermon, I shared eight statements on bitterness.  If you find yourself agreeing with any of these you might need reconciliation in your life with someone or something.

• I often replay in my mind the incident that hurt me.

• Deep in my heart, I wouldn’t mind if something bad happened to the person(s)who hurt me.

• I often find myself telling others how this person has hurt me.

• A lot of my conversations revolve around this situation.

• Whenever his or her name comes up, I am more likely to say something negative than something positive about him or her.

These eight statements are taken from the book, Choosing Forgiveness by Nancy Leigh DeMoss.

Our society often teaches that mercy is for the weak.  However, I think only a strong person can extend mercy because only a strong person has the ability to forgive the pain they've suffered.

Although I have heard stories about people taking advantage of someone's forgiving nature, I've heard far more positive stories of the peace and serenity a person feels after forgiving the person who has wronged them.  

As we look at trying to become more Christlike in nature, it is only logical that we would seek to become more forgiving since the forgiveness of sins is the chief attribute people think of when we look at the cross.

I suppose this is why so many quote from Alexander Pope's "An Essay on Criticism", saying, "To err is human, to forgive, divine."