And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins. – Mark 11:25

Think of someone you can’t forgive. Most of us have them.

How often have you sat stewing on how angry you are at them, how much they hurt you, and how you wish you could give them that speech and say the things you’ve come up with in all your brooding since the last time you saw them? When you get sidetracked into those thoughts, it shuts you down to all other thoughts, doesn’t it?

How does your heart feel as you navigate that feeling and that thought train? Is it hard? The wall around it grows exponentially everytime you chase that mental rabbit trail, doesn’t it? In those moments of unforgiveness, you are useless. Useless to God, useless to yourself, useless to accomplish anything productive.

Throughout the Gospels (and I admit I’ve talked about this quite a bit), Jesus says, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” That means instead of taking the hard line, God wants us to show His love. Forgiveness is the only answer.

“I’ll forgive, but I won’t forget,” you say.

Nope, that’s not forgiveness. That’s poison. That’s scar tissue. That’s locking God out with impunity. We’re told that when someone wrongs us, we are to forgive them seventy times seven. That’s 490 times.

I can’t give you the direction you seek about whether you keep them in your life. I think that’s a case by case basis. But I can tell you this means no revenge, no hatred, no dwelling on the wrongdoing for the rest of your life. Seventy times seven. Keep forgiving, and keep forgiving…

Why? What does God do for you? Say your big sin is that you steal gum from the store, and you’re addicted to it, and you can’t stop. God forgives you every time you ask Him to. That is EXACTLY why Christ died.

Holding onto that unforgiveness is the best way to stunt your own spiritual growth. How can you expect God to work with you when you are absolutely spitting on His forgiveness by holding on to your own grudges? He gives us so much, only for us to say, “Thanks for that eternal forgiveness God, but I’ll never get over this one thing that Jim did to me.” How dare we? Choosing not to forgive is saying that our pride and anger is more important to us than our relationship with our Savior.

Let His love for the lost inform your interactions. In this world, people will do us wrong, but in HIS world, we have only one choice. Forgive. ❤️