If you don’t want to become a bitter person, you need to learn to forgive. At some point in your life, something is going to happen that you wish didn’t happen. You are going to get into an accident, or someone will let you down, or the world around you will change. It will be easy to grow resentful and angry and bitter. If you don’t want to be a bitter person, you need to learn to forgive.
Here are four thoughts on the freedom we find through forgiveness.
The first thought is that we all have a debt we cannot repay. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There are thoughts we shouldn’t have thought. There are words we shouldn’t have spoken. There are deeds we should not have done. There are deeds we should have done but did not. If they issued a credit score for our level of morality, we would all be in the low 400’s. We all have a debt we cannot repay.
The second thought is that we need to remember the mercy we have received. We easily overlook the kindnesses done to us. We clearly recall the times we were held accountable, especially if punishment was involved, but the many times someone extended grace to us slip our minds. We need to remember the mercy we have received.
The third thought is that forgiving sets us free. The freedom we find through forgiveness is not Fourth of July, Independence Day, political freedom. That kind of freedom is freedom from what other people can do to us. The freedom we find through forgiveness is freedom from what we can do to ourselves. When we can’t forgive, or fail to forgive, or refuse to forgive, we are tying ourselves to the past at the cost of losing the future we could have. Forgiving sets us free.
The fourth thought is that the world needs you to forgive. Your family needs you to forgive. Everyone needs you to forgive. This isn’t just a personal, individual issue. The world doesn’t work well if people are unable to forgive. The world needs you to forgive.
In our sermon this Sunday we will be talking about freedom through forgiveness.