Taking a hit on the football field is one thing for athletes and in the National Football League Tight End Joe Senser took his share of hits. But it was off the field, after leaving the game that Joe was dealt a huge blow. A man he trusted, a friend he believed in would end up hitting him where it really hurt and that would be one of Joe's biggest lessons on forgiveness.
Joe said, “I had a business partner who stole over a million dollars from. He could have literally taken me down business wise but the Lord was very clear to me that I had to forgive him. In other words, can't say anything about him, can't chastise him in any way, couldn't even punish him.”
Right after giving us the words to the Lord's Prayer, Jesus tells us in chapter six of Matthew, “…if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” And as a Christian man who believes God's word, Joe Senser had to not only believe but act on his faith.
“I left him up to the Lord and the only way I could move on with my business was to completely set him free and you don't know how hard that is as a human being knowing that you have bills to pay and you have things that you have to do that you've worked hard for. But the Lord blessed me when I was able to get rid of that,” he said.
Joe also explained, “The Bible says we are to forgive others, it's in the prayer. We're to forgive others but we don't. Until we get to that point where we can truly forgive somebody we don’t know what that means. I truly think that unforgiveness truly holds us back from being everything that God has created us to be and for men especially because men hold on to everything. We're just built differently, we're wired that way and that is dying to ourselves everyday.”
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