Squad GoalsSample

We’ve all come across people who have hurt us, and often it’s the people we’re closest to who can hurt us the most. Maybe a friend said something behind your back that completely shattered your trust. Maybe they promised to show up for you in a moment when you needed them the most, but they didn’t. Maybe they betrayed a confidence, sided with someone who wronged you, or let jealousy get the best of them and tore you down instead of building you up.

Those moments stay with us. They cut deep because they come from people we thought we could count on. Forgiveness in these situations feels impossible—like letting them off the hook means saying what they did was okay.

But here’s the truth: the best thing you can do for yourself is to forgive them. As long as you hold on to bitterness, you’re holding yourself back. There’s nothing you can do to change what someone did to you in the past, but you don’t have to let it keep you from having great relationships today. Forgiveness doesn’t mean the hurt didn’t happen. It means you’re refusing to let it define your future. Forgiveness keeps your past in the past.

If you hold onto bitterness from a previous hurt, it will keep every friendship and relationship you have in the shallow end. You have to let it go.

And when you do, that takes care of your history—but I’m even more concerned about your current and future relationships. So here’s the sixth squad goal: Forgive people before they hurt you.

If you wait for someone to hurt you to then decide how you’re going to respond, you’re already too late to be the person you actually want to be. Forgiveness isn’t just a reaction—it’s a decision you make ahead of time. You need to decide right now to forgive people before they’ve committed the offense.

Why? Because it’s the same system God uses with you and me.“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us”(Romans 5:8). Long before you make mistakes next week or next year, God has already decided how He’s going to respond—with grace, forgiveness, and love. That’s the kind of grace we’re called to extend to others.

Here’s why this matters: If you don’t learn to forgive people before they hurt you, you’ll end up making your current friends pay for what your previous friends did to you. You’ll bring the weight of old wounds into new relationships, and it will slowly chip away at the trust and connection you’re trying to build.

Forgiveness doesn’t mean excusing bad behavior or letting someone walk all over you. It means setting yourself free by letting them off the hook. It means choosing to live with open hands instead of closed fists.

So, who do you need to forgive? Is it someone from your past whose mistakes are still echoing into your present? Or is it someone in your life right now who has hurt you but doesn’t even realize it?

Set yourself free by deciding today that forgiveness will be your default posture. Because when you do, you’ll not only free yourself from the weight of bitterness—you’ll also create the space for your friendships to flourish.