The Danger of Not Forgiving

"Bitterness is a poison that can destroy you, and it never destroys the person it's aimed at. A way to get through bitterness is to forgive," says Christine.

Dr. Les Carter says, "I recall one woman who came to me ten years after her divorce. She was talking about her son's marriage and her daughter's graduation. Her ex was going to be at both. She had never resolved the fact that he had rejected her. She kept going over in her mind, 'How could he have done this to me? Can't he see that he just ripped apart a family?' Her children would say, 'Mom, we know the facts. We know he did it. We can't go back and rewrite history.' She would always come back with those infamous words, 'Yes, but . . .'

"That is a woman who is so stuck in the past that it's as though she is willing to hold on to that divorce, to hold on to that anger, as being the defining element in her personality."

If you do not forgive the person who has hurt you, you are making it impossible to receive God's forgiveness for yourself. You do not want to cut yourself off from God's forgiveness. You need that forgiveness for your own freedom and healing and to release God's power in your life.

"In prayer there is a connection between what God does and what you do. You can't get forgiveness from God, for instance, without also forgiving others. If you refuse to do your part, you cut yourself off from God's part" (Matthew 6:14-15 Msg)