Yesterday I was reminded of my need to forgive… always and without fail! I know something is important when God says the same thing several times… Women’s Bible Study, Prayer Meeting, the next chapter in my book, the passage that He has me read! He made it clear that forgiveness is not for the other person… it is for me. Before you get too cocky and point your finger in my direction, remember that there are four fingers pointing back at you!
God made each of us with the innate power to create . We were made in His image and the first record that we have of God shows Him creating. It is interesting, however, that He created with His words. He already saw what He would create and then He spoke that creation into existence! Man was the only creature that He actually formed from the dust of the earth… which is also constantly creating! But that’s another blog…!
So, even if we don’t realize it, we spend a lot of time creating with our thoughts and our words. As we see situations and circumstances, we replay them in our minds… sometimes to our detriment! We rewind an argument with our spouse, we review a frustrating scene on the highway, we replay an incident at work and most of the time we have a “pity-party.” Offense is taken and forgiveness is withheld. The body of the one who chooses not to forgive responds with stress. Soon, aches and pains emerge and sickness and disease are often the result! We’ve begun to create! We’ve planted seeds that are bearing fruit! But how many of us really want the bad fruit that’s been created!
Instead, the Word of God says that we are to love our enemies… not just our family, friends and co-workers… and that we are to pray for those who persecute us or treat us badly. (Matthew 5:43-48) That means that we are to love when it is not convenient or reasonable or fair. We are to love when it hurts. We are to love when we’ve been wronged. We are to be like Jesus. After all, He was perfect and He forgave us every sin we ever committed! He took them to Calvary’s cross with Him. He’d never experienced sin prior to that point and He took every sin that ever existed upon Himself. He did that for us! Why? Because He loved us and wanted to restore fellowship with us! If Jesus took every wrong thing that each of us ever did and forgave us for it, why do we find it so hard to forgive someone else for one offense?
These areas where we choose to hold a grudge or choose not to forgive are costly. God’s Word says that as we forgive, so are we forgiven! (Matthew 6:14-15) Not only will our unwillingness to forgive harm our bodies, it will also have an impact on our spiritual life. WE suffer the reality of not receiving forgiveness for our errors in judgement, our anger and frustration, our hastily spoken words. We harm ourselves when we refuse to forgive… NOT because God wants to withhold His forgiveness and grace… Jesus already paid for those… but because we have planted seeds that will bear fruit that is not the fruit of the Spirit. This fruit is the fruit that God’s enemy would like us to bear… seeds of anger, resentment, retaliation, vengeance. These seeds will produce all the “junk” that Jesus died to redeem! Because He’s already paid for the “junk,” we need not suffer the effects of that sin… unless we choose to suffer. Since Jesus already suffered, our suffering is pointless and makes the enemy rejoice. He wins the battle even though Jesus won the war. The enemy gets to put that sin back on you because you’ve let him. It also tells God, who created the great plan of salvation, that you don’t think His idea or His sacrifice was worth very much… even though Jesus, God’s only Son, gave His life for each of us! Jesus paid the price necessary to set us free from all of our sin! The Holy Spirit constantly reminds us of God’s Word to help us avoid the temptation to sin, but WE make the choice to listen and respond to His “still small voice.” We make the choice to listen and respond to the One who knows what’s best for us!
Don’t waste another minute caught in the enemy’s trap of unforgiveness! Loose yourself from it and fall into the arms of the only One who loved you enough to truly set you free! Do it now! The only one you’re hurting is YOU!