CARING ENOUGH TO FORGIVE
“As those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion… bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.”
— Colossians 3:12-13
Many of us today find ourselves held hostage by a leash. The links in the chain are anger, bitterness, resentment and revenge. All these, however, come down to one thing—unforgiveness. Unforgiveness holds us hostage. And when we try to pull away, it pulls us right back, and we find ourselves prisoners of what someone else has done to us or, perhaps, what we have done to ourselves.
Most of us think forgiveness is a good idea—until we have to give it. Forgiveness does not mean approving a wrong or excusing an evil. Forgiveness is not necessarily the reconciliation of a relationship. The word forgiveness in the Greek means to release. Forgiveness is the choice to release a person from an obligation for a wrong committed against us. In the New Testament times, the word was used when canceling a debt.
Why is there a struggle in our hearts to forgive what someone has done? Because there is a bill out there that has not been paid. We insist on being paid, yet years go by, and the offender won’t pay the bill. Forgiveness always involves a bill, a sin against us that no one has paid yet. But God says to forgive one another.
For His kingdom,
~Tony Evans
women encouraging women
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