The State of Our Hearts

There’s a scene from a movie several years back called “Nobody’s Fool.” There’s a working man named Donald Sullivan. Everybody calls him Sully. He’s about sixty years old and spent his whole life in the same town. When his parents died, he inherited their house. He never moved in. Instead, he left it alone. It was the house where his father beat him as a child. So he has left it alone, and every day he drives by to watch it slowly fall apart.

One day he takes one of his friends, a local contractor, through that broken-down house. His friend says, “Sully, you could have saved this place. You could have fixed it up a little bit and rented it out. You could have sold it and put the money in your own pocket. Instead, you stick it to your old man. What’s it been – thirty, thirty-five years? You still keeping score? Well, here’s the good news you won.”

Over the years I’ve heard people’s stories about being abused by a relative. A friend once told me about a business partner who stole tens of thousands of dollars from him. And I think about another friend whose wife left him for someone else after only a year of marriage. So many of us carry so much around. And there’s no doubt about it, the pain is real.

Maybe you know what that’s like – to carry that hurt and anger around. Maybe you know what it’s like not to want to forgive. The need for revenge is a powerful emotion. And yet the truth is, if we are carrying hatred and anger and bitterness around, who does it hurt?

I wonder if there are people in your life that you need to forgive. Remember, forgiveness is not condoning what happened. It is not necessarily about reconciliation. In fact, we should never put ourselves in a position where the person can hurt us again. However, forgiveness is about the state of our own hearts. Forgiveness is about letting go.

If there are people in your life that you need to forgive, my prayer for you is that you would begin that process today.

Let us pray: Today, Loving God, if there is anyone who has hurt us in the past, if there is anyone toward whom we are still carrying resentment, we lift that person up to you right now. Help us to let go of any anger or bitterness we may be feeling. Release us from their power. We wish them well and commend them to your love and to your justice. In Jesus’ name. Amen.