It Is Time For A Prison Breakout!

To illustrate the damaging effects of an unforgiving spirit and holding grudges someone crafted this scenario. Supposedly two businessmen who lived in different cities were at a convention with their wives. These two men had been roommates in college and hadn't seen one another in years. In fact they had lost touch with one another but in a twist of fate late one evening, after an evening session their paths crossed. It was a wonderful time of reconnection. In fact they ended up sitting in the hotel lobby talking until the early hours of the morning. As they parted they commented to one another that they likely would be in trouble with their wives. The next day they happened to see each other. One said, “What did your wife think?” The other replied, “I walked in the door and my wife got historical.”  The first asked, “Don’t you mean hysterical?” To which his old friend said, “No, historical. She told me everything I ever did wrong.”

Have you ever met those types of people who always insist on rehashing the past? They're the ones who seem to live in their memories more than in the present. They are the ones who can’t seem to get past some issue, some hang-up or some roadblock in the past and they are chained to it.

Forgiveness exists on two levels: forgiveness from God to us, and forgiveness from us to others. Most of us rejoice in the first and stumble on the second. A failure to forgive and the grudges we hold have poisoned our lives more than any of are likely aware of. We're glad that the Lord forgives us from our sins and failures. We will also acknowledge that we need to be forgiving. However I think this is where most of us get snagged up. I think most of the time our true thinking is that we don’t have to forgive. It is something that others need to do but we often fail to recognize how forgiveness is something we need in our own lives, both as recipients and as extenders of forgiveness.

A failure to forgive is more subtle than most sins. It’s sneaky. It crawls into your spirit so gently, so nobly, and so innocently that you don’t know it’s there until it really has you. It’s also more common than most sins. A failure to truly forgive seems to affect most of us. And it’s also more dangerous. It may not cause overdoses and car accidents, but failing to forgive is the cancer of the soul. Unchecked, it will eat us alive.

Consider the emphasis scripture gives to forgiving others.

• Colossians 3:13 -“Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”

• Ephesians 4:32 -“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

• Luke 11:4 -“Forgive us our sins, as we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.”

• Matthew 6:14-15 -“For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

• Mark 11:25 - “And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”

• Matthew 18:35 - “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”

Jesus and the other Bible writers seem to consider forgiveness fairly important. I think it's because they knew that forgiveness brings freedom and it brings life.

Holding on offence against someone is like being a jailer, while the offending party is in the jail. I'm keeping them there under lock and key but it’s justified. After all there are consequences for offences. I alone have the key to let them out, but I just won’t, because of what they did to me. The problem is, since I'm the jailer, I'm stuck there as well. Yes the offender might be behind bars, but I can’t go anywhere either. The only way to set myself free is by letting them go.

Is there someone that I need to free from my prison? Is there a cell door where I need to turn the key? Will I forgive and be freed? These are the questions I ponder today.