When a person does us wrong, human nature wants us to hold on to the hurt, become bitter, and carries around the grudge. We would say, I am not going to forgive them because they do not deserve it. Not forgiving is not for their sake. You are forgiving them for your sake.
As long as you hold on to the hurt, the anger, the bitterness, resentment and grudges, it is not affecting them, it is affecting you. Unforgiveness is like a poison. It may feel good to hold on to it, but it will contaminate your life. Many times, the reason we do not forgive is because what the other person did was wrong. They were clearly at fault, but when you forgive, you did not excuse their behavior, and you are not lessening the offense. You are simply getting the poison out of you.
You have to forgive so that you can be free. Stop looking at it as if you are doing them a favor, No, you are doing yourself a favor. It takes a lot of emotional energy to hold a grudge, to live with unforgiveness. When you wake up, it is always on your mind, thinking about how they did you wrong. You may not realize that you are spending a lot of emotional energy that you need for your dreams and for your goals. You would not become all that you are created to be, if you are wasting your emotional energy on things that do not matter.
Unforgiveness is like an impurity. Yes, what they did to you was wrong, but you have to let it pass. You have to release the impurity. When you do, you are not only feeling new freedom, but you have more energy, and God will be your vindicator. He will make your wrong right. You do not have to pay people back for the wrong they did to you, you are not the judge. God is the Judge. Leave it up to him, he will vindicate you better than you can vindicate yourself.
You never really get over what was done to you, but you can get pass it. Yes, it is difficult, yes, there was a season of mourning when we lost dear ones, but we do not have to stay in mourning forever, you do not have to live in bitterness, you do not have to be stuck in grief and in depression. You can move forward. When you go through a lost or things happened that you do not understand, is easy to think, I just need to get over this. But, sometimes that is too strong. It can put more pressure on us. Then we think, why do I feel this way? I might be doing something wrong. Take some of the pressure off yourself. You do not have to get over what happened to you, just get pass it. Just keep moving forward, taking it one day at a time.
When we hold on to negative thoughts, like the anger, bitterness, resentment and grudges, it stifles our creativity. We do not do our best work because is infection is slowing us down. To reach the fullness of your destiny, you need to operate at your maximum potential. With the negative thoughts, you are operating at a fraction of what you could do. So get rid of all the negative thoughts, and with your faith in God, he will fill your life with good things. Set yourself free, forgive the wrongs done to you, pick up the pieces and move on with your life. Prove the bullies wrong by achieving your goals against all odds.
by Chibike I. Nwabude