The Consequence Of Unforgiveness***

The Holy One calls to me this morning.  Most of His lessons come out of my personal situations and the wrestles of trying to navigate my way through a fallen world.  But while all lessons are applicable, some are taught and brought through observation of other caught in deep waters.

Today as I ponder things that are brought about by pure evil, I see how the worst suffering may result from wrong handling of the emotions that come with and are basically due to the attacks. 

The Holy Spirit gently leads me to a very important truth.  “Humanity’s deepest pain is not generally from without but rather the consequence of bitterness from within.  Bring all your bitterness to Me”.

People do evil thing to us and to those we love. Time goes on and evil people pass away or move on and out of our lives.  Relational pain is something we suffer long after the attack is over.  Unforgiveness that brings bitterness is a continuous emotionally lethal consequence that we must learn to deal with.

Jesus spoke of it in Matt 18 in His parable of the unforgiving servant.  Jesus told Peter that the Kingdom of Heaven is “like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with His servants”.  As he began to settle these accounts, one servant owed a great deal he could not pay.  His Master ordered the sale of his wife, his children and all he owned in order to cure the debt. 

The man pleaded for mercy and just more time to pay, but the Master moved by compassion forgave the debt and even wiped his slate clean.  That same servant went out and found a fellow servant who owed him a debt far less than the debt he had just been relieved from repaying. This “wicked” servant with no compassion, threw his debtor into prison until he could pay.

The Master heard of the situation and recalled the wicked servant to stand before him as he reinstated the debt.  He said, “You wicked servant.  I forgave you all that debt because you begged me.  Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant just as I have had compassion on you?”  The parable ends as the wicked servant is delivered to the “torturers” (a prison of torment) until he should pay off all his debt.

While the main point of the parable has to do with the principle of our debt forgiven by God when we ask for forgiveness and mercy and with the expectation that we should in turn extend the same mercy to others since we all have debts to be paid.  But today the Holy One takes me to the consequence of the wicked servant’s unforgiveness; He was delivered to the “torturers”.

The principle of forgiveness is the bedrock of our Christianity.  God forgave us at the cost of the excruciating suffering and physical death of His Son, Jesus.   If forgiveness is the bedrock of our faith, then unforgiveness is the sinking sand.

The consequences for unforgiveness according to the word of God is torment, a mental torture, a penalty with life altering ramifications depending on how long we choose to remain in that place.  Mental torment is the worst since it clouds our thinking and robs us of peace, and joy and all the other good feelings that make life on earth pleasant and even easier.

Unforgiveness is a prison where we are locked with the offense and the one who delivered the blow.  Forgiveness provides for our release from that heart-rending prison and freedom from the offender and the dark demons we find there.

Forgiveness benefits the offended even more than the offender unless there is true repentance for the assault on another and reconciliation is made possible.  Absent that, forgiveness is deeply personal and really affects our own heart and mind and our relationship with the One who gives the command to forgive.

On that note it is worth mentioning that sometimes the bitterness and unforgiveness we are most tormented by is directed at ourselves.  Self-forgiveness is just as important as forgiving others and self-bitterness is as toxic as bitterness toward others.

The size of the debt owed us is not the issue and has no bearing on the forgiveness we need to extend.  All offenses we suffer must be forgiven and then released for God to enact His judgement, or vengeance or what amounts to consequences for violations committed against us and ultimately Him

Apart from Christ, forgiveness in many cases is not possible in and of ourselves. The lighter offenses we may get away with ignoring or sweeping under the rug of our prideful self-exalted generosity.  But sooner or later evil, using people in our lives, will deliver to us a blow that cannot be forgiven by our flesh-defending self.

This is the lesson that comes out of our counseling session this morning.  I understand how unforgiveness leads to bitterness that is a mental prison worse than a physical one.  But in His Holy drawing, the Lord reminds me that just like all the other godly works in my life, apart from Him I can do nothing.  I must bring all that is not forgiven and causing a root of bitterness in my soul to Him to fix.  I repent for the bitterness that my unforgiveness has brought and ask Him for His help in the cure.

With the Holy One I find that it is possible to move from the prison to the Holy Place in a short matter of time and even experience having the consequences of unforgiveness removed.   We in essence hold the key to our own cell but the question is: “Will we use it”? 

The Spirit is calling.  Can you hear Him?