A New Year
“Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and
clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice. And be ye
kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for
Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” (Ephesians 4: 31, 32 KJV)
[Tomorrow] is the first day of a new year. We have a choice to make. We can
continue living the same life of criticism, unforgiveness and anger that we
lived this past year or we can live a victorious happy life by forgiving and
loving one another. We can choose to forgive the people who have hurt us and
stop criticizing them or we can continue serving satan by our unforgiveness,
hatred and criticism. We only have two choices, Jesus or satan. Who do you
choose to serve?
Jesus has told us to be kind to each other, to be tenderhearted and to
forgive each other as God for His sake has forgiven us. How dare we go to a
Holy God and ask Him to forgive us when we aren’t willing to forgive the
ones who hurt us! I believe that our unforgiving attitudes not only hurt Him
and break His heart; I believe that they also stink in His nostrils.
I received an email two months ago from someone who said that she has
forgiven the person who hurt her but she can’t forget it and let it go. I
submit to you on the authority of the Word of God that she has not truly
forgiven this person because she has not forgiven the person from her heart.
Of course we are going to remember the things that have hurt us but if we
keep harboring bitterness, unforgiveness and criticism in our hearts, we sin
and hurt Jesus and break His heart.
We read in the Bible “He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded
us according to our iniquities” (Psalm 103: 10). If God can forgive us for
sinning and hurting Him, we need to forgive the ones who hurt us. We
sometimes are a very arrogant people. We forget that nobody is perfect. The
greatest Christian you know is just a sinner saved by grace. Every one of us
fails Jesus and every one of us has hurt someone.
There was only one perfect person who ever lived or ever will live and His
name is Jesus. It is a sin to continue to harbor unforgiveness and criticism
in our hearts. No, we can’t forget but we shouldn’t hold it against them and
think that they will never change. When we say that people will never
change, in reality what we are doing is calling Jesus a liar. He has said
that He will give us a new heart.
Ask Jesus to remove all of the bitterness, the resentment, the unforgiveness
and the hatred from your heart today. I urge you to make the choice to live
this new year with unconditional love for others, with forgiveness,
tenderness and peace in your heart. Open the door to your heart wider and
allow Jesus to tenderize your heart and season it with the things that bring
happiness and joy to Him.
Joanne Lowe
joannelowe8@cox.net
www.joanne-freedominjesus.blogspot.com