Being Bitter Won't Make You Better
Being Bitter won’t make you Better
Many years ago, I read a news story about a young girl who had been kidnapped and sexually attacked. Her hands and feet had been cut off and she was left for dead. She miraculously survived and the man was caught and sent to prison for his horrific crime.
Eighteen years later, this man was being paroled and the news media heard about it and thought it would make a great human interest story. So, they tracked down the girl who was married with children of her own and with cameras running, they approach her front door.
When she answered, they delivered the news that the man who kidnapped and brutalized her was going to be set free! The cameras quickly zoomed in on her face expecting to see a burst of emotional outrage and anger at hearing the news that this monster of a man was going free.
She calmly said, "eighteen years ago this man took thirty minutes of my life and I have decided not to give him one second more."
This lady was a believer and she made the decision to forgive the man who had maimed and violated her so terribly. If she hadn't, she would have also been in a prison, one of a different kind.
Someone once said, "Harboring unforgiveness is like drinking poison and hoping your enemy will die!"
Unforgiveness poisons anyone who holds on to it; causing them to become bitter and it is impossible to be bitter and get better at the same time!
Jesus said in Luke 4:18 that He came to heal the brokenhearted. He still does today, because He hasn't changed. The love every believer possesses today is the very same love that forgave the entire world at the cross. God would never ask us to forgive if He hadn't equipped us with the ability to do so. This same love can heal your broken heart and enable you to forgive the one who broke it.
Living in God's forgiveness is freedom, knowing how to forgive is freeing.
"And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." Ephesians 4:32
