in bondage to unforgiveness...

judah is a forerunner of JESUS and the end of the story is better than the beginning.

maybe you had a tough beginning in your story of life.  maybe you made some real mistakes like judah did.  but when i read the story of judah i say, “here’s a man of faith!”  people can look at you the same way even if you had a tough beginning. 

genesis 45.7 (niv) joseph reveals himself to his brothers.  he weeps loudly.  he says to his brothers, “i am joseph.  is my father still living? GOD sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on the earth to save your lives by a great deliverance.” 

forgiveness?  he’s able to say, “i understand what GOD’s doing.  HE didn’t send me here for my greatness.  HE sent me here to save your lives.”  that’s forgiveness.  that’s a man who’s come to a point in his life that he not only sees GOD’s hand at work and he’s able to say i forgive somebody else.  but because of GOD’s grace in his life, he’s able to see how GOD wants to use him in the life that HE’s forgiven.

you’re probably not there yet but joseph’s life tells us that you can be there.  it took him thirteen years of faith to get there.  you can be there.  if you’re in bondage to unforgiveness it colors everything.  it colors your attitudes, it colors your actions, everything.

how do you break out of that bondage of unforgiveness?  simple.  forgive.  you say, “i’d love to forgive, how?” 

write on a sheet of paper everything GOD’s forgiven you for.  and look at it everyday if you’re having a hard time forgiving somebody.

pray for the person that you have an unforgiving attitude toward every day.  at the beginning you may be praying for them to die!  but at least talk to GOD about them.  start to talk to GOD about them every day.

it’s not going to happen in a day it’s not going to happen in two days.  it’s probably not even going to happen in a month but if you’re struggling with unforgiveness that’s the way to break those bonds. 

some of you are thinking, “i don’t want to do that!”  there’s the real issue!  sometimes we just don’t want to forgive.  we don’t want to let go.  but the truth is that GOD has forgiven us so much, how can we hold unforgiveness in our hearts towards anyone else when you start to look at what HE’s forgiven us for. 

just a thought from the front porch…