- Feb 16, 2021
- 304
- 168
- 34
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Faith
- Protestant
- Marital Status
- Single
On Friday I was deceived by my co-workers. It is too long a story and you’d need to know details about the company I work for to understand it:
But the crux is: three of my co-workers plotted between them to lie about being in traffic so that we did not have to load a van, so that they could go home early. ( I know they lied because after being told they were over an hour away, I remained at work to sort some racking out for my boss and one of them arrived back twenty minutes later (after dropping another co-worker back at his house).
This made me very angry. When he came in to drop the van key in the warehouse, he said hello and all I could say was “yep” because I was trying to control myself.
Then it was the weekend and I forgot about it, until Sunday evening, and I knew I was going to see them and was worried over how to behave.
Today I have been unfriendly (not rude) and distant with the one co-worker (whom dropped the key off on Friday) whom I have been with.
I have been feeling guilty over my unfriendliness but after listening to some sermons on the subject and doing some thinking I have concluded that I shouldn’t feel guilty about being cold and distant with people whom continually hurt me (that is not to say that I will fight it, if the spirit moves me to be friendly with them).
I also concluded that forgiveness means to not seek to collect a ‘debt of pain’ that I feel they owe me such as by shouting at them, being angry with them, insulting them, slandering them, gossiping about them etc. etc.
So I guess I am asking if my conclusions are wrong, and if so how and why. Does forgiveness require us to be warm and friendly with everyone (even our enemies)?
Is it okay to be cold and distant with people whom have and will harm us again?
As always, I would appreciate your thoughts as they are always helpful to me.
God bless and best wishes,
James.
But the crux is: three of my co-workers plotted between them to lie about being in traffic so that we did not have to load a van, so that they could go home early. ( I know they lied because after being told they were over an hour away, I remained at work to sort some racking out for my boss and one of them arrived back twenty minutes later (after dropping another co-worker back at his house).
This made me very angry. When he came in to drop the van key in the warehouse, he said hello and all I could say was “yep” because I was trying to control myself.
Then it was the weekend and I forgot about it, until Sunday evening, and I knew I was going to see them and was worried over how to behave.
Today I have been unfriendly (not rude) and distant with the one co-worker (whom dropped the key off on Friday) whom I have been with.
I have been feeling guilty over my unfriendliness but after listening to some sermons on the subject and doing some thinking I have concluded that I shouldn’t feel guilty about being cold and distant with people whom continually hurt me (that is not to say that I will fight it, if the spirit moves me to be friendly with them).
I also concluded that forgiveness means to not seek to collect a ‘debt of pain’ that I feel they owe me such as by shouting at them, being angry with them, insulting them, slandering them, gossiping about them etc. etc.
So I guess I am asking if my conclusions are wrong, and if so how and why. Does forgiveness require us to be warm and friendly with everyone (even our enemies)?
Is it okay to be cold and distant with people whom have and will harm us again?
As always, I would appreciate your thoughts as they are always helpful to me.
God bless and best wishes,
James.