Set Free

A friend told me about a guest pastor who preached at his church.

When that pastor was three years old, his dad walked out. He didn’t see his father again for nearly thirty years. And when he finally did, his father wanted a relationship.

That’s when the pastor realized how much he’d been carrying. Thirty years of anger. Thirty years of resentment. It felt like the weight of the world.

Maybe you know what that’s like. Maybe someone you loved or trusted hurt you, or let you down. Most of us know what it’s like not to want to forgive. To want to get even. So many of us carry so much around.

The pastor told my friend’s congregation that he did forgive his father — but only by the strength God gave him. And as hard as it was, he said it turned out to be one of the best things he’d ever done.

I think I understand why. Holding on can feel like we’re showing them. But who are we really hurting? I don’t want what someone else did to me to run my life. I want to be free.

That kind of freedom isn’t something we manufacture. It starts somewhere else. Paul wrote, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.” (Ephesians 4:32)

As God in Christ has forgiven you.

That’s what the cross is about. That’s how God has dealt with us. We don’t forgive in order to earn something. We forgive because we’ve already been set free.

Prayer: Merciful God, we have heard the good news that in Jesus Christ we are forgiven. Sometimes we accept that forgiveness. Sometimes we don’t. Sometimes we can forgive others, and sometimes we hold fast to old grudges, hurts, and fears. Sometimes we can’t even forgive ourselves. Have mercy on us, O God. Help us let go. Help us accept that we are accepted, and forgive as we are forgiven, that new beginnings may be ours. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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