We often reminiscence about our childhood, how pleasant, happy and carefree it was. How we had no worries and how we had such fabulous friendships. Yes, childhood friendships are so beautiful and magical because children have no capacity to retain and recount past hurts.
They have pure hearts; they forgive each other all the time. Remember as a child you would have a major fall out with a friend (often over the most mundane thing) and less than 10 minutes later you would be best friends again! You would go to bed without the faintest memory of your earlier misunderstanding – hence children sleep off soundly no matter what.
Forgiveness is good; it is good for your soul and very good for your health. Resentment, bitterness and an unforgiving spirit destroys your health and your soul.
Forgiveness is very important because without forgiveness of our sins we are doomed to eternal destruction. Hence Jesus Christ died so that our sins may be forgiven – Yes GOD our Father gave his only begotten son to be crucified and buried for the sole purpose of our forgiveness and salvation. How powerful. The precious blood shed to cleanse our sins. The most important Christian doctrine has it basis in forgiveness of our sins.
Whenever we commit sin we depart from the love and grace of God because God hates sin; we must constantly strive to live by his commandments so that we can continue to partake in the sacrifice of Christ our savior.
An unforgiving spirit drives a wedge between a person and the grace of GOD, the blessing of God will not rest on a person who bears a grudge or refuses to forgive the other person “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” Matthew 6:12.
Thus it is a condition precedent for God’s blessing because you must forgive the other person for God to forgive you in order for you to receive His blessings and grace.
“Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that someone is angry with you, leave your gift there in front of the altar, make peace with the person, then come back and offer your gift to God.” “Mathew 5:23-24. If you have wronged someone, no matter who they are, could be your house-help, driver, spouse, boss, parent or friend, do not feel too big to apologize, humble yourself and ask for their forgiveness, tell them you are sorry and be truly sorry.
Seek reconciliation at the earliest opportunity lest the relationship fester like a sore that if left untreated, leads to amputation, cutting off permanently. A lot of divorces started just like that, a wrong left uncorrected, a dispute left unresolved, a sore left to fester and lead to permanent amputation; amputation of husband from wife!
We are to “tell him his fault privately, between the two of you, if he listens you have restored him for Christ, if he refuses to listen, go back to him with at least two witnesses and if he still refuses to hear then, go and report him to the church and if also he refuses to listen to the church, then he must be treated like an unbeliever, a non-Christian.” Mathew 18:15-17.
God will deal with such a person and the church will be purified.
Peter, responding to Jesus on his teaching on forgiveness asked “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times? Jesus replied, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven times.” Mathew 18:21-22.
Imagine forgiving someone seventy seven times seven times! At the end of the exercise you most definitely would be free from all hurts, pains and resentment you would be completely free, your health is not affected and your soul is intact, your marriage is intact, your work place is intact, your friendship is intact, your life is intact. AMEN.
The real message here is – Do not count Hurts, do not keep Tabs on it, do not keep referring to the past hurts, let it go now! Release all the hurtful feelings, by the power of the Holy Spirit, let go!!
Matt. 18:23-35 tells us the parable of a certain king who forgave and wrote off a debt of one of his servants, but as soon as the servant left the presence of the king, he met a fellow servant who was owing him and who was unable to repay the debt at the time; this fellow servant begged him to have patience with him and give him more time within which to repay the debt. The servant whose debt had just being written off by the king refused all pleading by his own debtor and he had him put in jail until he repaid his money. The king heard about this and was very angry, he thus dealt with him in accordance with the law, and he showed him no mercy.
Learn to forgive yourself and free yourself from guilty conscience. A sister who had committed abortion when she was young and in the world, found it difficult to forgive herself for many years. She just could not forgive herself until she had an encounter with the Lord and she was forgiven. She now works as an advocate and anti-abortion crusader. She helps young girls going through the pain and trauma of unwanted pregnancies to recognize that the feotus is a human being and has a right to live. Through her experience she teaches them that the eternal pain of abortion is far worse than bringing the child into the world, by the grace of God her work has touched so many lives positively and many lives have been saved.
She turned her story around, from guilty conscience, pain and emotional trauma to pro-active Christianity, joy, sense of purpose and fulfillment. She freed herself from the prison of her guilt. No matter your sin, confess to the Lord and be truly sorry, resolve to live a life without sin.
The very important thing in life is to forgive whosever that offends you, if you don’t and carry such in your heart you would destroy yourself. It will eventually lead to bitterness, hatred and decease. Then eventually destruction of self.
Most times the person who is the object of you bitterness does not even realize that you have a grudge against them, meanwhile anytime you see them or hear about them, you are filled with resentment and hatred, your blood pressure goes up and all sorts of illness start happening to your body, all because you refuse to forgive and let go! You need to free yourself from the destructive pain of un-forgiveness.
If the word of God does not dwell in your heart and you refuse to forgive others, you cannot have peace because the word of God is settled in heaven.
Choose to obey God by forgiving all those that have offended you. ‘‘And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.’ (Ephesians 4:32).
Learn to forgive, forget and move on with your life without the baggage of resentment and bitterness. Learn from the experience but do not allow the experience to define your future.
Are you walking about with an unforgiving spirit? Do you constantly look in the rear window of life at past hurts and pain? Do you always seek revenge for all wrongs done against you? If you do, you are wasting valuable energy. Re-assess your situation let go and move on with Christ Jesus. ‘Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing’. (1 Peter3:9).
Dear readers are you burdened by past hurts and pain? I decree in the name of the Lord that you be set free this moment from the pain of betrayal, divorce and all forms of grudge holding you down. Receive your healing and be released. Amen. Praise the Lord.