It was just a little lovers quarrel between two neighbors, David and Rachel. Then every week after that for forty-two years, he wrote her a love letter, asking her to forgive him, and every week she promptly burned the letter. Her heart was stoic and unforgiving. Finally, he summoned the courage to knock on her door and ask her to marry him. She said yes! They were seventy-four years old when they finally married!
Sad story, isn’t it? To have wasted forty-two years that they might have shared loving one another instead of holding a grudge. As I read that story recently I thought about how easy it is to think you’re so right that you will not forgive. Satan feeds us lies:
- You could not possibly give in because by doing so, he wouldn’t learn the lesson he needs to learn.
- Forgiving would rob you of the joy of hurting him like he hurt you.
- Forgiving would make you a doormat.
Yes, forty-two years is a long time, but do we have a right to hold a grudge for forty-two days? How about forty-two minutes? No, forty-two seconds might be more like it.
(https://refreshher.com/2015/03/12/the-wasted-time-of-unforgiveness/)
I recently read this and could not help but think how many times we have allowed ourselves to waste days, weeks and years in the bondage of unforgivenness.
You can make your day better by choosing forgiveness. I choose to forgive. How about you?
The word of the day is forgive.
Mark 11:25 (NIV) And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”