The Pathway to Freedom

Sitting down with an old friend, I could tell he was in a completely different place than a few months ago. He worked through a decade's worth of pain and hurt caused by another member of his family. Thinking back to a meeting a few months prior, he was angry. Rightly so from what had been done to him, and was also contemplating cutting off the relationship entirely.

But in this meeting, while talking through the same issues, he was light-hearted and joyful. The difference? Forgiveness.

Through the course of our conversation, he told me how he discovered that he was bound up by bitterness. He said the turning point for him was realizing that cutting off the relationship wouldn't make all his problems go away. He realized he carried deep resentment that would remain even if he wasn't engaged in the relationship.

In Matthew 18, after being asked by Peter how many times we should forgive, Jesus replied, saying, "seventy times seven." Meaning, we should continually forgive even if it's for the same offense over and over. Jesus also tells a parable where, in the end, a man who withholds forgiveness is thrown in jail, and Jesus says the same will be done to us if we don't forgive.

Unforgiveness is a self-imposed prison that we build and in which confine ourselves. Therefore, forgiveness benefits not only the forgiven but also the forgiver. It's a process and takes time. We shouldn't expect it to come immediately. But if we never forgive, we risk growing hard-hearted and being controlled by anger and bitterness. If you want to experience true spiritual freedom, do the work of forgiveness. It may be challenging, but you won't regret it.