Courtney's Confessional: Forgiveness.

We hear so many stories of Christ’s forgiveness. His dying on the cross to free and forgive us. God taking our sins and making them white as snow and throwing them in the sea of forgetfulness. But what if someone sins against us? What’s our responsibility to with forgiveness?

For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: Matthew 6:14

I remember being a little girl, maybe around 9, and I was so infuriated at my mother. I went to sleep and woke up and was still furious. My mom called me in her room to talk, and that was something I totally didn’t want to do at all. Anyways, I went, and she told me about how not to go to bed angry. She showed me how this message was scriptural and how it was important to forgive. It was enough for me, and whatever I was mad at my mother I dropped it.

I’ve never been too much of a grudge holder, but those verse in Ephesians 4:26-27 recently spoke to me.

I had a summer school teacher who I seriously felt like was out to get me. She pretty much tried to cheated me out of an A. (If you know me, I’m an A student who really takes her grades seriously. I learning not to put my identity or worth in my grades, but that’s a whole other story). I was so aggravated that I told my friend and sister about it, and I went to sleep and even dreamed about my injustice.

“In your anger do not sin”^[a]: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, ²⁷and do not give the devil a foothold. Ephesians 4:26-27.

God mentions that it’s okay to be angry, but sin not. How did I sin? I went to sleep angry. You might be like, what’s the big deal with that, the thing is that it is a big deal. The Bible is a love letter with instructions on how to live a godly life. God’s word tells us not to go to sleep angry because it leaves us open to the devil’s attack. Staying angry, leads to bitterness and a foothold. A foothold is like having the devil’s foot in your door preventing you from closing it fully. Footholds become stronger, if you don’t kick the devil out completely. Ultimately, it leads to a stronghold, which is when the devil has knocked down your door and is all up in your house. (What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 1 Corinthians 6:19).

The devil wants us to stay angry so we don’t forgive. When we don’t forgive, the Heavenly Father will not forgive us.

But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses. Mark 11:26

I was recently talking to one of my friends from high school, and we were talking about a guy who used to bully her. Even post-college, she has not forgiven him. I thought about how bound up we become with unforgiveness in our hearts, it is not freeing. That person is out living their lives, and we are stuck holding on to the past and what they did to us.

The pointblank picture here is that if we refuse to forgive, Christ will not forgive us. I’ve done some bad things, and my righteousness is like filthy rags. So, I pretty much really need a savior to forgive me. The thing is that hell is too hot and eternity is too long, so forgiveness is something I must do. For some, this may be a real task. Don’t try to do it on your own strength, rely on Christ to help you out. (Zecheriah 4:6, 2 Corinthians 12:9).

Let God take your heart one moment at a time.