Our current series “Why?” has touched on several issues, and one of these is prayer. We asked, “Why hasn’t God answered my prayer?” last week. So I had to ask the question, “Who is standing between us and God?” Many times, it is a lack of forgiveness that is standing in the way of people having a closer relationship with God.
Sometimes, we simply can’t forgive other people. Psychologists tell us that many times we hang onto anger, because we somehow believe that if we stay angry, it will eventually change what happened. Most doctors will tell you that many people are sick, because they hang onto anger and can’t forgive and move on. The anger affects us emotionally and physically, through stress and heart disease and many other issues.
The Bible makes it clear that we need to forgive quickly, and that we need to forgive often. It describes a lack of forgiveness as a bitter root growing in our lives. That is a hard thing for people – getting past the hurt and the pain in order to reach forgiveness.
We not only have to learn to forgive other people, but also to forgive ourselves. We know that God loves us, but it is very hard for some people to see that.
There is a freedom that comes with God’s forgiveness, the removal of guilt, and the removal of feelings of unworthiness that we all deal with in our lives. Unfortunately, we get so used to living with those feelings, that it is hard for us to accept the freedom.
What do you do when you don’t have to worry? What do you do when you don’t feel guilty? What do you do when that all goes away, because you’ve been forgiven?
Many people will never know.
