Ever been hurt by the words of a friend? Have you had a work situation that wasn’t fair? Have you been cheated, lied to, or betrayed? I am sure we all have experiences in life that have left us really hurt. Whether it was intentional or not, people and situation leave us upset and damaged. We are ready to take revenge or “show them”. We want to make them “pay” for the hurt and injustice they caused. We can’t let them get away with it, or can we?
When we become upset, hurt and unforgiving, we allow bitterness to to take over. It usually starts small, but can quickly grow if we allow it. We can’t and don’t want to forgive them for hurting us or treating us unfair. The sad part is the people who we are upset with aren’t even aware of how we feel, or if they are they don’t care that we are hurt. They continue on with their lives not concerned with us at all. On to the next thing while we sit here wrenched and wounded. We then tend to sulk about it or try to get even. After all they don’t deserve to get away with treating us this way. Unfortunately our actions just make the situation even worse. We need to forgive… But, how can we forgive them when they are not even sorry or ask for forgiveness? How can we just let it go?
God’s word tells us over and over again to forgive. In fact he tells us to forgive as he forgives us. God knows that when we have unforgiveness in our lives we are the ones who suffer. We are the ones who are feeding the root of bitterness allowing it to spring up in our lives. We have to chose to be BETTER not BITTER by forgiving. It is very hard to forgive, especially someone who doesn’t seek forgiveness. But forgiveness is not about letting them off the hook, it is about us letting go of the situation and moving on. Sometimes it is just too hard to do in our own strength. God will help us forgive if we ask him.
Forgiveness will give us a release from bitterness and allow God’s peace back in our hearts. We can’t control the other person or the situation but we can control how we respond to it. It is not easy, as our first response it to be bitter and unforgiving. But we can chose to take the high road, chose to forgive and leave the hurt behind. So with God’s help chose to be BETTER not bitter!
The Adventurous Life 