Forgive, Your Relationship Depends On It

Okay, I’ll start this one off with a familiar incident that leads to anger…ROAD RAGE!! I must admit this made me laugh really hard because I used to struggle with this so badly. It used to erk the mess out of me….whether it be the slow drivers, the reckless drivers or the ones that annoy us all, the drivers that cut us off in heavy traffic. LAWD!! Yes. I admit. I used to get so angry with them. No, I don’t think you understand…I’d curse them, flick them the finger, ride their bumper and even find opportunities to cut them off just as they did me. I would literally allow it to set the mood for my day and how I’d treat people. Crazy right? I bet this has been you. Maybe it wasn’t road rage that set you off…but something or someone has gotten you there before.   

Thankfully for me, all of that happened in my sin, but I’ll be transparent enough to admit that I have slipped and hurled a few curse words out of a “road rage fit” as a Christian. BUT!! I thank God for covering me during those times. I cannot imagine the horror I would have had to endure if, in an instant, my life would have ended. THANK GOD FOR HIS GRACE!!!! It was and always has been sufficient for me! AND if you’re reading this….His Grace is sufficient for you too!

Now, on to my question: Who are you angry with? How long have you been angry with them? A week? A month? A year? More than that??? Don’t you know you’ve basically just handed that person the power to control you?? What could they have possibly done to anger you so? Yes, the Word tells us that we can “be angry and sin not” (Ephesians 4:26) but also it goes on to say; “don’t let the sun go down upon your wrath” (Ephesians 4:26). Soooo, how can we abide in Christ, yet angrily hold grudges towards people for months and years? The longer we go on angry, the more opportunity we give the enemy to work in our hearts and in our minds…essentially making us angrier than we initially were. Trust me I have been SO GUILTY of this!  

Let’s briefly go back to the road rage incident, I know that it was pretty impossible for me to find the person I was angry at to explain my anger and ask for forgiveness. So I had to ask God to forgive me and I had to forgive myself.

There are people who have hurt you beyond what you believe is repairable. And it’s not always easy to just forgive someone when they have hurt you so badly, but it’s even harder to walk around angry all of the time, trying to remember why you are angry. Keeping that in your heart is not worth the stress, the sleepless nights or the headaches that come with it. God considers it “good and pleasant when we live together in unity” (Psalm 133:1). I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to live with a whole bunch of "united" angry folks. Realize that there is power in forgiveness and this power frees you! So whoever you are angry with, PLEASE forgive them!! Not for them, but for YOU….do it for YOU and God. Your relationship depends on your ability to forgive.

Let’s Pray…

Lord, I am so sorry that I have allowed anger to reside where You should be. Please forgive me being calloused and unforgiving. Help me to show others the same mercy that You have shown me. Thank You in advance. I Love You. Amen.

“Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.(attitude: loving and forgiving just like God forgave you)” –Ephesians 4:31-32