| The Grapevine
Number 159 December 8, 2007 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth. II Timothy 2:15 Forgiveness by Jack Northart What we harbor in our minds and think about on a regular basis eventually trickles down into the innermost part of our mind referred to as the heart. Unlike the involuntary muscle that pumps blood and oxygen through our bodies, the heart of the mind can be controlled by an individual as he directs his thoughts accordingly. Proverbs 23:7a For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he. The Hebrew word for “thinketh” in this verse is the word shawar. It literally means: “to act as gatekeeper.” Every person is the gatekeeper to his or her mind. The thoughts that we put into our mind or allow to enter our mind are by our own choosing. If I dwell on negative or dark things, my life will manifest negative or dark things. If I choose to dwell on positive and light things, then I will manifest those things. What about times when someone has done something to hurt me? I try to focus on the light and positive things in life, but my heart feels like it is broken into a million pieces? It may seem that no matter how much positive light I pour into my mind, the negative emotions are sometimes overwhelming. What is driving this overwhelming negative emotion? God designed the human body and mind. He programmed emotional responses into our DNA for our benefit. He also understands that every human being is different and sometimes the differences can clash. Disagreements can ensue. The emotions of anger and even rage can push us to the brink of exploding emotionally. How are we to deal with this? Ephesians 4:31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice. Bitterness, wrath, anger are all negative emotions. This verse says to let them go, set them aside. We take deliberate action to do this. Once we recognize them like putting out the cat, we put them out of our minds. Then we follow up with the next verse. Verse 32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. To have wrath, anger, bitterness and malice is the opposite of being kind, tenderhearted and forgiving. God forgave us, now He wants us to forgive one another. Somehow, this verse seems to apply to everyone but me. I like to justify my anger and that forgiveness stuff is for other people, but not me. WRONG! I am still in charge of the thoughts I put into my mind that eventually make their way to my heart. God knows this and that is why he says to act in this manner. Forgiveness is a big deal. In the medical field, they have conducted several test studies to see the effect that forgiveness has on our health. They have found the correlation between reviewing hurtful memories and measures of stress response (EMG, heart rate, blood pressure). When subjects were encouraged to think forgiving thoughts, the stress responses diminished. Forgiveness has shown some significant health benefits such as: decreased anger and negative thoughts, decreased anxiety, decreased depression and grief, and decreased vulnerability to substance abuse. I once believed that if I were to forgive someone that had wronged me, I would be condoning their bad behavior. If I did not forgive them, I would be letting them feel the same sting of negative emotions that I was feeling. This is not the case. Forgiveness is required in order to release all of the negative emotions attached to the wrongdoing. As long as I do not forgive, I am the one who continues to suffer. However when I forgive, it can be very empowering. Colossians 3:13-14 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering. Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel [something to blame] against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. Wounds can be deep, whether we get them intentionally or accidentally from someone else. It drains our vitality and can ruin our life. On the other hand, forgiveness restores our capacity to love. Forgiveness is the beginning of the cure for mental and emotional healing. Forgiveness allows us to love once again. As long as we remain in a state of not forgiving someone, we also remain in the state of being unloving. It is never about whether the other person deserves your forgiveness, but the release from the negative prison in which you are living. It will staunch the emotional bleeding. The question is not whether we should forgive, but whether you deserve to be happy by letting it go? Verse 15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. Our five senses want us to try and stop the screaming emotions in our heads by continuing to begrudge someone who has wounded us. God wants us to forgive. We may not forget what caused the wound, but with forgiveness, the power of the negative emotions dissipates. We can let love reign once again and the peace of God will rule in our hearts. Forgiveness is the starting point. Return to main page |