Have you had your Joy Juice today? It’s hard to drink when you’re holding
unforgiveness in your heart!
Today I
want to talk about a “touchy subject”.
We all want abundant joy to be poured out into our lives, right? Well, do you realize that in order for that
to be possible we have to forgive those who have wronged
us? When we are angry or vengeful, we
can’t receive the joy that is meant for us in Christ Jesus.
God tells
us that He forgive our sins---puts them as far as the east is from the west and
that He remembers them no more (Psalm 103:12 & Isaiah 43:25). In Ephesians 4:32 we are instructed to: “Be
kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ
God forgave you.”
Often we really do try to forgive people, but when
we are doing it our strength, we may find ourselves remembering and rehashing
all the details of what they did. As my
grandmother used to say, “We like to enjoy our mad.” Remembering a past offense
reopens the wound and feeds anger—then our anger feeds an unforgiving
spirit….which steals our joy! Not only
does it steal our joy, it prevents us from growing in our relationship with
Christ.
May we each be challenged to see the grudges that
we are holding and ask God for the strength to release them to Him. It is then that He can truly do a redemptive
work in our hearts. And we will be
blessed with the freedom to accept His love and joy.
As Queen
Elsa sings in the popular movie “Frozen”: “Let it go! Let it go!” and get ready
for a blessing of abundant joy!
No comments:
Post a Comment