FORE — GIVE is giving another person the opportunity to be WHOLE going FORWARD.
I’ve heard many definitions of forgiveness over the years. Most of those definitions focused on the person who was injured. It emphasizes the significance of letting the person who injured them go. It is Releasing fear, feelings of hurt, resentment, and anger. In that sense, Forgiveness was really about the wounded one.
But what if you were the person who injured someone else? What if you genuinely feel sorry for the hurt you created in another person‘s life? What can you do to help bring that person to wholeness again?
Recently, as I was meditating on this concept of forgiveness, I thought about the need for people to be able to move forward. Whenever an injury between people takes place, it leaves holes in their soul. It may injury them in financially, emotionally, spiritually, relationally and in many other ways.
So when we consider helping a person regain wholeness, we determine what areas they were wounded in and what would it take to help them “catch up” to where they’re supposed to be. What does it take for a person to move forward.
You can’t fix what was done in the past. You may not be able to replace what was taken. But what “can” you do now to help that person fill in the broken places — the empty spots that were created by that injury. And that’s where the idea of fore — giving came to mind. it is giving what you can to help the person you injured become whole going forward.
When we injure someone imagine their soul being damaged. It could be stabbed, cut, burned, and injured in many different ways. It leaves a hole in our souls just like a physical wound can leave a hole in a body.
And overtime those wounds may heal. Those wounds may go away. But it doesn’t always leave a person whole. There are different ways to make a person whole. There are ways to make their soul complete and restored. One of the first ways to make a person whole is Validating or acknowledging their injury and giving them the opportunity to forgive you.
Another way for a person to become whole is for God to touch them and restore the place where they were wounded. Another way to make a person whole hole is to do restitution— To find a way to replace what was taken or damaged. If you stole from them, you replace what was taken. If you wounded them or caused them injury, you financially replaced the cost of them getting back to normal as best you can. This may or may not restore them completely but it can help them in the healing process.
Fore—GIVING It is moving intentionally in a FORWARD direction. It is helping people become unstuck in the past. It is empowering them to let that go. It is creating an atmosphere of validation and encouragement. It is restoring broken relationships. And in the end, you give God permission to fill in the holes and restore a soul.
If you are an individual who injured another person, you do as much as you can to repair the wound by replacing the things that may have been taken, restoring the thing that was broken, or doing some form of restitution to make it right. Partner these actions with the act of requesting forgiveness and giving them the opportunity to move forward.
This truth reminds me of one of my favorite scenes from a classic movie, the color purple. I remember the scene for Mr. head hitting all of the letters from Africa where Miss Sealy‘s children were trying to get back to the United States. I saw Mr. taking those documents to the governmental agency and supporting the close of this chapter and reuniting a family. It was a powerful moment in that movie that created a powerful picture of what restoration looks like.
In Psalms 23:3, It says, He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.
Only after the soul was restored could David get up and start walking on a new path. It takes a restored soul to see clearly the opportunities of the future.
So ask yourself, who can I restore today? Are there people in your past who need to be made whole? Are there things you could do today to change their tomorrow for the better? Do whatever you can and FORE GIVE. Give them the opportunity to move forward towards wholeness.