Forgiving When it Hurts

There are so many times in life when someone hurts you. It can happen when you least expect it or even when you think you are carefully guarded against hurt. At those moments it is so hard to extend forgiveness to someone who 1. has not asked for it 2. in our minds doesn't deserve it 3. has repeatedly offended us.
Our flesh is so strong. We very naturally protect ourselves and defend ourselves when someone has recently hurt us. For me personally it is so hard to be humble and apologize especially if I feel the other person has done more wrong in the situation then me. However, God keeps us accountable for ourselves. Do you remember when Peter asked Jesus how many times he should forgive?
"Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, ‘Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?'
"Jesus answered, ‘I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times'" (Mt 18:21-22). Jesus was not specifying a numerical limit of seventy-seven, so you have no excuse for telling someone, "Okay, that's seventy-six times. You only have one more to go, so watch out!" He was using numbers to make a contrast that is easy to remember. Love "keeps no record of wrongs," so a tally of someone's offenses is out of the question (1 Cor 13:5).The whole point that Jesus is making here is to continue to forgive, in spite of your own feeling, no matter how many times you have had to extend forgiveness.
Quiet honestly we can’t do this in our own strength. The only way we can forgive someone is when we remember how much God has forgive us. That should be our motivation for forgiving others – what Christ has done for us. Because if we look at the cross and say, “wow, God did that to forgive my sin? How can I not forgive another?”
It does not make it any easier, but it does make it possible for us to do it. Because at that point our focus is not on ourselves…it is on the greatness and kindness of God.