Not Forgiving Is Like A Poison!

The following is an excerpt from an excellent article that I read by Terri Cole entitle "An Exercise In Forgiveness"...

“Not forgiving is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.”—Unknown

Are you a good forgiver? As a therapist for fifteen years in both Los Angeles and New York City, I have found forgiveness to be one of the most misunderstood concepts from coast to coast.

When I encourage clients to forgive a grievance, many of them feel I do not really comprehend their situation. They believe my advice should be to never talk to the person again, NOT to forgive them. This is a common reaction due to the misunderstanding of what forgiveness is all about.

The most common misconception about forgiveness is that two people are required for it to work. This is not true. You can forgive people who are no longer here, or with whom you no longer have contact. Forgiving is all about you. Deciding whether to hold anger or release it occurs in your mind. How do you want to feel? What do you want taking up space in your brain and body? It’s your choice. Forgiveness is not condoning the actions of the other party. It is not rolling over and giving up. It is not giving in or losing anything. Forgiveness frees YOU from resentment prison.

Need another reason to give up your grudge-holding habit? Consider this: not forgiving also creates feelings of constriction and those feelings (which are energy and attract like energy) block the flow of your abundance.

“Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.”—Paul Boese

Those are some great thoughts on forgiveness. I believe that many physical ailments and illnesses are caused by the toxic build up of unforgiveness. I also believe that the best "forgivers" should be those who have tasted the grace of forgiveness from the greatest Forgiver of all time - the Lord Jesus Christ. He suffered the excruciating torment of crucifixion and the emotional torment of being taunted by heathens and yet He forgave us "all" our sins. He expects us to forgive as well.

 

Ephesians 4:32

King James Version (KJV)

 ³²And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

Colossians 3:13

King James Version (KJV)

 ¹³Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.

 Forbearing is an interesting word. It is the Greek word ἀνέχω anechō and it means to "sustain" or"endure". It basically means to "put up with" someone. Let's face it, there are times when we genuinely need to confront others with our grievances but most of the time we need to learn how to put up with most of their behavior. If we can learn to endure others more often it will make it easier for us to learn to forgive. For the most part we are too sensitive and too interested in protecting our self interests. We need to forbear and forgive as often as possible. Still, we will never be equal to the great Forgiver. Have you been forgiven for all your sins? Trust in what Christ did on the cross to be sufficient payment for your sins! Do it today.