Free To ForgiveSample

Day 2

If an infection is not removed from a physical wound, it will not heal. And infections always spread without intervention.

If we don’t remove the dirt and infection from the wounds in our heart by extending forgiveness, the infection spreads.

When you don’t forgive, you harbor ill feelings toward the person for their hurtful attitudes or actions. Because of the wounds you experienced by the other person, you decide that you aren’t going to forgive them, or maybe you just decide to “forget it” and “move on with your life.” You fail to realize that your wound will eventually become infected. And even if you try to ignore it, infection remains. It spreads. It will affect your life, your relationships, your health and well-being, and even parts of your life that don’t seem connected at all to the original wound.

You can see how far an infection has spread in your heart by considering the Slide of Unforgiveness. Start at the top. Which stage describes your heart towards a person who has hurt you?

Stage 1: unforgiveness. Stage 2: anger. Stage 3: bitterness. Stage 4: slander. Stage 5: resentment. Stage 6: hatred. Stage 7: vengeance.

You may be wondering if unforgiveness has to work its way down that slide from stage one to stage seven. The answer is yes. Heart infections are just like physical infections: they inevitably spread. If the unforgiveness has existed in your heart for weeks and months, you have definitely slid to more serious levels. No one can stop this tragic slide as heart infections continue to spread until they are cleansed.

How will you prevent it from spreading more in your own life? If it is not stopped, it will destroy you, keeping you from the freedom and joy you are meant to live.

Fortunately, there is a solution.

This is an excerpt from The Freedom Factor: Finding Peace by Forgiving Others… and Yourself, by Dr. Bruce Wilkinson with Mark E. Strong. Used by permission.