Unforgiveness: Friend or Foe?

Unforgiveness is an interesting guy. He asks to move in as soon as you get hurt, and he promises to leave as soon as you get even with the person who wronged you.
 
Unforgiveness tells us that he will protect us, numb the pain, save us from being weak ever again. At first glance, he seems great, the kind of guy you would want in your corner. Then, over time, something changes.  
 
    You start to notice how unforgiveness begins changing your house. These days, the curtains are always closed, he never wants to turn on the heat, and he constantly warns you to not invite people over. “Remember how (name) hurt you”, he tells you, “don’t let anyone in this time so you don’t have to feel that way again”. Fresh in your pain, you agree with him at first. But over time, you start wondering how your heart became so hard... not only towards one person, but now towards many people.
 
Slowly you start to realize that unforgiveness does not free us from pain, but enslaves us to it. The more we let bitterness into our hearts & minds, the more we speak/act/perceive out of that pain. If we choose to live out of bitterness, the very person unforgiveness is “protecting” us from ends up controlling our entire life anyway.
 
Is it easy? Absolutely not. Does forgiving someone hurt? Yes! However, forgiving someone does not mean that what someone did to you was okay, and it definitely does not mean that you have to rebuild a relationship with them. Forgiveness means that you are choosing to not let what someone did to you control your life or harden your heart towards them any longer.
 
True freedom is releasing someone who wronged you to God. True freedom is letting God bring you justice instead of wearing yourself out trying to find find it on your own. True freedom is taking forgiveness offered to you by Christ and giving it to others because there is no better way to understand how much it meant for God to forgive us until we see how much humility it takes to genuinely offer it to others.
 
That freedom is real, and it is available to you. Just ask God to come kick that guy out, and for His Spirit to move in.

We love you guys! If you have any questions about forgiveness, please reach out to someone on staff.