Forgiveness does not mean reconciliation…
Is there a scripture that you like to skip over, pretend it isn’t there, bypass? I think we all have at least one of those scriptures…for me it’s Matthew 6:14-15 which says, “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.”
I get convicted every.single.time I read it. It’s a verse that makes me uncomfortable.
At some point we’ve been hurt by someone, whether it was a family member or a close friend. Sometimes it’s easy to forgive, other times it’s not that simple. Sometimes we feel like we need to hold onto our anger, we somehow think that it effects the person that hurt us, or we come up with excuses for holding onto the anger, like it makes a difference why we are angry. Guess what? None of our excuses can change what the Word of God says. Forgive and be forgiven. Do not forgive, and you will not be forgiven. Wow.
We have all held onto anger and hurt, but we need to let it go, and we need to realize that forgiveness doesn’t mean reconciliation.
When someone hurts us, we need to go to God and work out the forgiveness part, we don’t go to the person that hurt us. We need to forgive, not for the other person, or to set the other person “free” because that is something that they need to work out with God for themselves. We need to forgive because God wants to set us free! When we hold onto unforgiveness and bitterness, we are only hurting ourselves.
A lot of us have been through a lot in our lives, and I’m not discounting any of it, I can actually think of multiple things that I’m holding onto as I type this. It is hard to forgive, it’s a process and it takes time to develop a forgiving heart.
Lets pray…
Lord, help us to develop in this area. Help us to let go and develop in this area. Help us to let go and give all our hurts and anger to you. Help us to forgive as we have been forgiven. Forgive us for holding onto bitterness and anger. We release everything we are holding onto, right now. We give it all to you. In Jesus name, Amen.