As we forgive

I had my preaching hat on yesterday and talking about forgiveness. Usually a sermon on forgiveness concentrated on our need for it, but I looked also of our need to forgive and the problems we heap upon ourselves if we are unable to forgive others.

If you are harbouring resentment then it is like a chain around your soul, weighing you down. Sometimes we like to hold onto grudges, thinking that in some strange way that grudge/resentment is affecting the other person adversely. But If the person who is the focus of that resentment appears in the same room, then it is you that suffer, not them. It is your blood pressure that rises, it is you who become irritable or depressed, it is you who loses concentration, it is you who has a miserable day.

If you don’t forgive then it you who suffer, you end up in punishing yourselves for the sins of others. You become churned up by re-living the events that caused the problem; you may well become so bitter that you start turning others against the one who you are targeting your resentment at, spreading rumours, openly criticising. You start doing all the things that you know as Christians are wrong... you find ourselves guilty of sinning and in need of forgiveness again!

What started as a unforgiving spirit has now turned into something that not only affects your personal relationships but is starting to drive a wedge between yourself and God.

Forgiveness is not always easy, it can be painful, but again and again we come back to what Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:31-2;

31Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.