UNFORGIVENESS

A LADY was walking her dog, and the dog was trying to get away from the leash. But every time the dog pulled away, the lady would yank it, pulling the dog back, and the animal couldn’t get free. The leash held it hostage, kept it bound, and unable to break away. He couldn’t break the chain.

Many of us today find ourselves held hostage by a leash. The links on the chain are many. There is the link of anger, the link of bitterness, the link of resentment, and the link of revenge. But no matter how many links are in the chain, they all boil down to one thing, unforgiveness.1012

[Christ, Freedom in; Forgiveness]

Eph. 4:32; Col. 3:13

A COUPLE of years ago, I was driving and getting ready to turn onto my street when someone hit me from behind. I stopped, got out of the car, went around the back, and examined the damage. The rear of my car was dented in. It was the other driver’s fault, but it was my inconvenience.

I took out my license and said, “Let’s exchange insurance information.”

The other driver said, “I don’t have any.”

We had a problem. The problem is that I had a dent in my car that was caused by somebody else. Somebody would have to pay this bill because the fact remained that my car had a dent in it. However, if I waited around for him to fix it, I’d be driving for years with a dent in the back of my car. So guess what I did. I picked up the tab. The moment I picked up the tab, I didn’t have to drive around with a dent anymore. I made the payment.

Many of us are living our lives with dents on the soul. Somebody has run into us, somebody has messed over us, or somebody has insulted us, and we’ve been driving our lives for years, waiting for their insurance package to pick it up. But they are uninsured, and they are never going to pick up the tab. Because you refused to pick it up yourself, you are forever dented in your soul.1013

[Forgiveness; Hard Heart]

Matt. 5:23–24; Col. 3:13