Actual Christianity

When I was growing up I had no idea who or what this was referring to, and nobody ever explained it to us. So I hope this helps others make more sense of of Jesus’ instructions and references to trespassers in The Lord’s Prayer.

Trespassers, in short, are anyone who hurts your ego, your feelings, your valued reputation, or disrespects you. The demand for respect is always a demand for our egos. Never let these “offenses” get to you as they are hurting nothing real. Never take anything personal, is the most concise way to put this. Keep this in mind at all times, as only your ego takes things personally. Taking something personally could be anything from something major like someone cursing you out to something petty like someone not responding to any of your texts or emails. At the end of the day it’s still your ego taking it personally and there is a full spectrum of reasons our egos can get triggered. In the social media age, people didn’t like your Instagram post or upvote your Reddit post? Shrug it off.

I forgive those who offend or hurt my sensitive ego. I forgive them immediately. I ask God for forgiveness for something I acknowledge that I did. In many cases, it is usually related in some way to whatever you are forgiving another person for. Ask God for forgiveness for being offensive to someone else, typically triggered because someone offended or hurt you.

Father please forgive me for yelling at or insulting someone out of anger. I forgive the person who triggered me or insulted me. When you clash with some, reflect on how you acted towards and reacted towards someone. It’s almost like the hostile way you acted towards someone triggered the situation that made you the recipient of that anger and hostility.

Your response should always be god bless you. Make it your knee jerk response just like we say it when someone sneezes. If you take something personally, think or say you forgive them and bless them.

Think of those who “trespass against me” as those who scathed or hurt my feelings and ego. God forgive my trespasses for hurting others when I earnestly ask for it. There is always a ripple effect to all your actions so any way you treat others will inevitably come back to hurt or benefit you depending on what you did.

An Example of Trespasses In My Own Life:

To use an embarrassing example from my own life. Hopefully you can draw some parallels between this example and a similar situation from your own life. There was an instance where a retail store employee had made a false accusation of theft to me in a retail store, which of course offended and hurt my ego. So I exploded at him because I took it personally and was offended. A very public yelling match ensued, provoked by my own hurt ego. Something I became very embarrassed about later when I slept it off. This is a perfect example of what Jesus meant when he said, forgive those who trespass against you. When you ask god for forgiveness for your own trespasses. I asked God for forgiveness of my own trespasses (being belligerent, hurtful and hostile towards someone over my hurt ego) while simultaneously forgiving the man for his trespasses of my ego (something I should have done immediately). I recognized the relationship between who I am forgiving and what I am asking God for forgiveness for. During my clash with the retail clerk, he said he was asking because they were constantly hit with thieves, and that was something I should have absolutely been empathetic towards. When I relayed this story to my family later, they gave me wonderful advice. Not only should I have kept my cool, but also should have said “If you’d like to go through my bags, go for it brother”. A much more cool and peaceful response when compared to blowing up on someone and losing my temper.

Forgiving Someone 77 Times?

Jesus was asked how many times you should forgive someone during the day, he said not just 7 times, but 77 times. He is absolutely right, but when do you know to forgive? and who to forgive?

You will received prompts and cues to forgive throughout the day, and they’re not accidental. You’re being served opportunities to forgive on a silver platter, and it’s your job to recognize them and take the appropriate action to forgive. Be thankful when you’re able to recognize and identify them as they happen because every time you forgive, you’re getting closer and closer to the end zone of peace and truth. The best cue to forgive is anytime you recognize that you are taking something personally. Examples for the 21st Century:

• You feel you’re being deliberately left out of discussions or get togethers.
• Anytime you feel you’re not appreciated or others are not grateful to you.
• When someone barks orders at your, or gives you orders.
• When someone speaks over you or interrupts you when you speak.
• When someone doesn’t do something you asked them to do or they promised to do.
• When someone disagrees with your opinion or some long thesis you wrote online about something you strongly believe in. Forgive them and wish them well.
• When someone doesn’t write back to your texts, you feel you’re being ghosted
• Someone doesn’t laugh at your joke, your text, your message, etc.
• When someone makes you repeat something repeatedly because they didn’t understand you or hear you, a small annoyance that should be shrugged off.
• When someone says something that makes you feel disrespected. Perhaps this is the most textbook example of your inflated ego taking something personally.

In all these instances, not only should you forgive them, but bless them, wish them well. Bless them with financial security, health, happiness, and anything else comes to mind. Constantly pay attention to your thoughts and emotions to catch it as it’s happening to prevent them from taking hold. As Jesus said, blessings and forgiveness goes a longer way when it goes towards someone who isn’t the friendliest towards you when compared to someone who’s already on your side. You are making peace with them instead of dwelling on anger and hatred which does not serve your mental and spiritual health. For many, forgiving them and making peace face to face is not always an option, but as long as you earnestly do it, you’re still healing yourself spiritually. If you’re able to make that peace and forgiveness with them verbally and face to face, that’s even greater. It takes an enormous amount of humility to do this directly with that person. It’s forgiveness on steroids. Even small gestures like offering nice things for them, or favors, goes a long way towards being a peacemaker and dissolving any animosity, anger or resentment. If they reject your olive branch, forgive them and move on. The ball for forgiveness is in their court and they’ll come around when they’re ready.

Not only should you forgive, but it should also be complemented with a shrug and ‘oh well, moving on….’ There’s nothing better than having an attitude that nothing can phase you. Always play it cool because it’s far superior to the person who is blowing their top over something petty, insignificant, and something that won’t even bother them after they sleep it off. Your are dealing a massive blow to your ego every time you forgive. Most people’s ego are by nature, incredibly oversensitive and thin skinned. Nobody wants to be seen as thin skinned and over sensitive instead of playing it cool like nothing can penetrate them. The best part of forgiving someone immediately is you are always keeping your cool, never letting anger or anxiety get the best of you.

Finally, whatever someone does to trigger you, even if you can’t immediately forgive them and let them go, concentrate all your will on not retaliating or trying to hurt someone who hurt you. This is absolutely essential, and once again remember, anything hurtful you do to someone else comes back to hurt you as well. This isn’t just eastern spirituality, Jesus makes this clear when he says you reap what you sow. Being kind to someone else comes back ten fold, the same applies to being mean to someone else. Forgive forgive forgive.

Beware of pastors who focus on division, culture war nonsense and do not emphasize and reinforce Jesus teachings of forgiveness in their sermons. They have lost the thread. Jesus taught unity and oneness, not division. When he said we are all brothers and sisters and god’s children, he meant that quite literally. We are not separate from each other despite what our egos have led us to believe.

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