Then came Peter to Him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Matthew 18:21 There is a tremendous cancer in our lives that is eating us from the inside out. It is a cancer that penetrates deep inside each of us, sapping our strength, sucking out our joy, and spewing forth its poison in our veins; the poison of anger, bitterness, regret and squashed hopes. What is this cancer? It is the cancer of unforgiveness. In his book “Wishful Thinking” Frederick Buecher puts it this way, “Of the seven deadly sins, anger is possibly the most fun. To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter confrontations still to come, to savor to the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain you are giving back - in many ways it is a feast fit for a king. The chief drawback is that what you are wolfing down is yourself. The skeleton at the feast is you.” Is it, then, any wonder that critical, unforgiving people tend also to be guilt prone people, and vice versa; people struggling with guilt feelings who are usually critical of others and tend to harbor resentment? By the way, if you yourself struggle with a critical spirit, you know it. You don’t really like it, but you just can’t seem to help it. I would like to suggest that you read extra carefully this morning’s devotional and strongly consider that the core disease just may be unresolved issues of unforgiveness. You see, this cancer of unforgiveness is eating away at our hearts, our minds and our relationships. It is stealing our joy, our energy, and our hope, and it must be stopped. But how? I believe that the only way to eradicate this cancer is to forgive. The word ‘forgiveness’ has been defined as, “Surrendering my right to hurt you for hurting me.” That tells me that forgiveness is big. Now I know that it can also be quite evasive and difficult for us to wrap our minds around this concept because it is so contrary to our nature and our raw emotions. I like to think of forgiveness kinda being like a greased watermelon in a pool full of water. It’s hard to get a grip on it. The harder you try, the more you squeeze, the more slippery it gets. Every time it is dropped it becomes increasingly more difficult to grab onto again. We must wrestle for it, and there are always others who will try to take it away and prevent us completing the task. People nowadays use the term “forgiveness” loosely to mean different things, but I would like to suggest to you that forgiveness is more than just relinquishing judgment to God or simply accepting the hurt and letting it pass. No, true forgiveness occurs when those cold emotions of unforgiveness are changed to warm, loving, compassionate, caring, altruistic emotions resulting from a heartfelt transformation. You see, I believe that forgiveness is both an act AND a process. It could be compared to canceling a debt, but it’s not the same as reconciliation, because it takes two to reconcile; it only takes ONE to forgive. Here is the truth of the matter, regardless of how you may have been hurt, violated, betrayed, disrespected, abused or abandoned physically, emotionally or spiritually. In every case, big or small, recent or long past, minor or major, the greatest obstacle to forgiveness is the refusal to give up the thought that the offending occurrence could have been different or better. As long as we continue to dwell on these things, we imprison ourselves to the unchangeable past and bind ourselves with the heavy chains of old emotional and spiritual scars of anger, bitterness, hopelessness, pain, regret, guilt and perhaps even revenge. Sometimes, we direct these emotions to our offender and sometimes upon ourselves and our loved ones, but we MUST forgive, no matter the situation and irrespective of whether or not there has ever been any apology, recompense, punishment or reconciliation. Why? I forgive so I can be free! Word For Today Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. – Matthew 18:15 – My God, consider this, what kind of an effect on the kingdom of darkness would there be, if the men and women of God, called by HIS name, would adhere to this timely principle? Prophetic Word There is hidden manna for the people of God, as He is about to resuscitate some businesses and bring a turnaround in finances. I hear the Spirit of the Lord saying, “It’s time to seek Me for new strategies.” I see many turning away from the faith as the enemy will cause their hearts to faint, but I hear the words of Daniel 11:32 echoing in my spirit saying, “And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed.” Seek the Lord, for it is your fulness of time.
Posted on: Wed, 23 Jul 2014 16:05:02 +0000
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