Freedom Through Forgiveness

If you, LORD, kept a record of sins,
   Lord, who could stand? 

But with you there is forgiveness,
   so that we can, with reverence, serve you. – Psalm 130: 3-4

Today’s Reading: Psalms 129-131; 1 Corinthians 11:1-16

I’ve been thinking a lot about freedom for the past few weeks. Through meditation week and the day of fasting I was able to see something that perhaps I had only glimpsed before. I saw the potential that we all have to obtain true freedom.

Freedom of spirit…

One of the paths of freedom is our ability to do without; to say no when we want to say yes.

Another path is letting go of the emotions that bind us to the past. This is done through forgiveness.

When we refuse to forgive we are really refusing to let go of the past. Often times it is something or someone in the past that hurt us, made us feel out of control. It was something that rocked our world. But the sad thing about it is that what we are holding onto in our souls is already dead, and the longer we try to force it to live within us, the sicker it makes us.

Our souls are not fit to carry dead weight.

I remember being raised with the notion that unforgiveness is a hindrance to faith. It prevents us from getting prayers answered and from being blessed by God.

Now I am beginning to understand what that means.

It isn’t that God punishes us for our refusal to forgive. It is that we punish ourselves. We are so focused on the pain that we are holding inside that we are blind to the answers God has provided to our prayers. We miss opportunities. We fail to follow through when we see them because much of our energy is being spent holding on to the past. In short, we get in our own way.

This is what happens when we see ourselves and others living in cycles. Have you ever known someone who continues to date the same person or the same type of person? Often times this is a form of self imposed bondage. Their desire to hold on to this ideal person in their heart causes them to seek out that person in others.  

That’s not a good look.

The only way to loose these shackles of our own creation is to forgive. We need to set them free by forgiving those people and situations that we perceive to be the authors of our pain. Not only will we be free to make important connections to others but we will also have the clarity of mind that we will need in order to see what God has given us.

So search your heart and think about someone that you need to forgive. Perhaps setting them free will be the best decision you can make for your future blessings.

Even if that person that needs to be forgiven is you…