Mark 11:25

Mark 11:25 (NIV)

And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.

To be totally transparent, I didn’t think that I had any problems with forgiving people.  Life is just too short to hold grudges.  However, God recently reminded me of a situation that happened some time ago where someone who stated their opinion about me and what I was doing really hurt my feelings.  I thought I had let it go, but it turned out that the anger, outrage and pain came back when I was confronted with having to deal with someone connected to the individual.  I discovered that I was still hurt, and that I was not only angry at the person who said the unkind things about me, but I was also angry with the person connected to them for not checking the person for what they said.  The Lord had to show me that regardless of what people say or do to you, you absolutely MUST forgive them, and pray for them.  This isn’t an option, it’s a command.  If we don’t do this, not only do we stand in danger of not being forgiven when we approach the Father, but we also put ourselves at risk for spiritual cancer to take root and destroy our outlook on a blessed life, and bitterness will rot out our spirit.  We have to look in the mirror, and humbly ask the Lord to remove the aught that we have against our brothers and sisters, so that we can see our way clear to a path of forgiveness for ourselves.  Who are we to hold a grudge against someone who God created, just like us?  We are imperfect, and don’t have the right to judge or not walk in love towards anyone who has hurt us, whether by accident, or on purpose.