We Are Never More Like God, Than When We Forgive

Can I Be Saved With Unforgiveness In My Life?
by Samuel Lee Frank on Friday, July 15, 2011 at 5:00pm.

Unforgiveness is a sin. It has pretty dire consequences (unless the Lord was just being dramatic in Matthew 6). It is an offense against God chiefly because it is born out of our PRIDE (i.e. "reserving the right to have the final say").Put another way, "like Satan, we intend to come out on top with our argument". Unforgiveness is the will saying "I would rather be right than free". Author Paula Sanford in her book, Healing Victims Of Sexual Abuse, quotes her son as saying it this way:

"He says that if a person has not known or chosen to put on the full armor of God (Eph. 6:13-17), he will wear some other kind of armor. Either we wear God's armor consciously, through prayer and relationship with Him, or we wear our own fleshly armor. It is not possible to wear no armor at all. Since nature abhors a vacuum, to the degree that trust in human authority and God's power and faithfulness have been shattered, a person who is hurt or threatened will build his own defense mechanisms, which are self-made armor. A demon may then be attracted and will mold itself in the shape of those defense mechanisms to "help" the person practice them. A person, for instance, has said, "I'll never forgive, so that I will never be vulnerable enough to be hurt again."

That determination becomes armor instead of the breastplate of righteousness"

Unforgiveness is also and attempt to justify ourselves, or "place ourselves in a position to not need forgiveness". This is the analogy of the parable of the unforgiving debtor in Matthew 18:23-35.

I don't know about you but I could never dip so much as a finger into the pool of God's forgiveness if I had unforgiveness in my heart. How could I walk free by God's mercy, while I imprison someone else with my lack of it?

I don't have to like eggplant. I do not have to tolerate weeds. I may not have a "good relationship" with someone, but I do have to let them go free while I cultivate the good ones. There are those that I chose not to have a relationship with in this world, but they are free and I can live in Heaven with them. ( Hold on... this gets HEAVY!)

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