Forgiveness is a gift we give ourselves as much as others. When we hold onto hatred, we carry a burden that weighs heavily on our hearts and minds. By choosing to forgive, we release ourselves from the prison of bitterness that can poison our lives.
Forgiveness doesn’t necessarily require a face-to-face encounter. It’s an internal process that frees us from the corrosive effects of anger and resentment. When we forgive, we prevent what the Bible calls “a root of bitterness” from taking hold in our hearts.
Ephesians 4:31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice.
Forgiveness doesn’t mean forgetting or excusing harmful behavior. Rather, it means choosing not to let that behavior continue to harm us through our own resentment. It’s about reclaiming our peace and emotional well-being.
Should those who wronged us eventually seek reconciliation, we can meet that moment having already done the internal work of forgiveness. We might simply tell them we forgave them long ago—a powerful testimony to the freedom we’ve found by choosing love over hatred.
Colossians 3:13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
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