Don't harbor bitterness; choose forgiveness

C.S. Lewis in his classic book “Mere Christianity” writes, “Everyone thinks forgiveness is such a lovely concept, until they have something to forgive.”  A person may go around proclaiming how great an idea it is forgive, but what will happen when this person is suddenly and unexpectedly hurt by someone?  That’s when the rubber meets the road.

The Bible says, “Bear with each other and forgive each other if any of you has a grievance against someone” (Colossians 3:13).  Jesus said in Luke 17:4 if someone “sins against you seven times in a day and yet returns to you seven times and repents, forgive him.”  It is clear from the Bible that God wants us to forgive everyone and anyone who wrongs us.

Someone once said that when we harbor unforgiveness it’s like holding onto a load of baggage that God never intended that we carry.  Mark Twain once remarked, “Anger is an acid that does more harm to the vessel it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.”  Of course, everyone gets angry occasionally, but what Twain is saying here is that if you hold on to that anger long after the offense, it will easily turn to bitterness, and holding on to that will have negative psychological results.

I know some of you have been hurt incredibly deeply.  You could tell me stories that would blow my mind, I have no doubt.  I’m truly sorry that this happened to you.  But I’m telling you, based on my own personal experience, that the only way that you will ever be free from that pain is to genuinely extend forgiveness to the person or persons that hurt you.

Kevin Bauer